From the side of the former Bridgestone factory, located on the eastern outskirts of Ulyanovsk, it resembles an ocean liner with its shape: the same incredible length, many add -ons and … dazzling white. To ensure that the walls were white, the Japanese insisted at one time. And now the company has passed to the new owner – the tire holding Cordiant.
In 2016, when this plant was just launched, the then head of Bridgostone Tayer Manuephoring CIS, Hiromi Tanigava said: “Our brand was stuck in the second echelon … But after the start of production, the consumer’s attitude should change. Indeed, the logistics, the range of models and the marketing approach will change at the same time. ”
Cordiant
Representatives of the Land of the Rising Sun really considered the Russian market so important that they filled the walls of the workshops with the most modern equipment, investing considerable 350 million dollars of investment. The purchasers immediately found local suppliers to reduce the cost: 40% of the purchased components were originally domestic.
Moreover, the company’s management made an unusual decision for the Japanese to replace his compatriot “foreigner”. Before starting the equipment, Hiromi Tanigawa was taken by Jeffrey Glover, the same American who previously steamed the GM-Autsovaz, where the Chevrolet Niva SUVs made.
Cordiant
Glover openly noticed the scrupulousness of Asian owners, but was sincerely surprised at some operational decisions. For example, why should the entire volume of products be sent to the Moscow warehouse? After all, buyers of tires from neighboring Samara, Kazan and Cheboksar actually pay for the double road of tires.
The decisions of the American manager listened, the obvious oddities were eliminated. By the beginning of 2022, the conveyor had the opportunity to produce 12,000 tires in size from 13 to 19 inches daily. About 20% of the products were shipped for export – first of all, to Georgia, Kazakhstan, Belarus, Azerbaijan and Armenia.
Cordiant 
Cordiant
We specifically paint the “Affairs of the Last Days” in such detail. It is important to emphasize that the Ulyanovsk site, being the most modern plant throughout the Global Bridgestone network, was a favorite child of loving parents.
Here is another example. Many companies provide the principles of constant improvement of production processes. But the leadership of Bridgostone gathered the ideas of these very improvements at all levels – from an ordinary cleaning lady to the general director: each of the nine hundred employees of the enterprise participated in the work.
Cordiant 
Cordiant
In March 2022, production stopped. But since the experts of the tire industry are actually piece, they continued to pay 100 percent salaries. Japanese owners hoped that international pressure on the company would weaken, after which the conveyor would resume work … But this did not happen.
In December, the Russian Bridgestone plant retreated to S8 Capital businessman Armen Sargsyan and became part of the tire cluster created on the basis of Kordiant JSC. It included enterprises in Omsk and Yaroslavl and the Kaluga plant Continental, also purchased from a foreign owner. Later, in the fall of 2024, the formed Cordiant holding was acquired by the structure of Alexei Mordashov “Severogroup”. Now the plant in Ulyanovsk is called Gislaved – this initially the Swedish brand belongs to the Russian tire holding after a transaction with Continental in the summer of 2023.
Cordiant 
Cordiant 
Cordiant
“Our main task is to preserve literally everything: personnel, technologies, quality, and most importantly – the very corporate culture that this plant is really known,” said Vadim Volodin, the head of Kordiant JSC.
Indeed: the entire staff of the staff, a full set of equipment and even the press forms of former Japanese models remained … Unless, there are more local suppliers-our companies are now shipping about half of the components, although especially important ones have to be carried from abroad, with more complex supplies.
Cordiant
Production technology looks like this. In two three -story mixers, up to 100 types of rubber mixtures are simultaneously prepared, since for the manufacture of each tire you need up to 10 different compositions! Say, several layers of the tread alone require four to five species. The work of Cimcorp -assemblies in general seems to be a pure magic: layers of the cord, tread tape and sidewalls literally “glue” to get a “green tire” resembling – this is the name of the workpiece that vulcanization awaits. And already passing the press vulcanizer, the “green tire” becomes real.
By the way, the collected tires are moved to volcanication … under the ceiling of the workshop. For this, special baskets with falling are provided – this is a completely unique conveyor system, analogues of which are not anywhere else. (We remember that this plant is a beloved child of loving parents …)
Before you go to the warehouse, the tire undergoes visual control procedures and … shaving. After volcanization, the finished wheel has many rubber hairs on the tread surface: most of these hairs first removes a special machine, and the operator “finishes” the surface.
Cordiant 
Cordiant
After examining a person, robots already check the mass, dimensions and balancing of each tire. After these tests, less than one percent of the products goes into marriage, while about 30 tires are restored daily, eliminating small visual defects: “The wheel should look perfect on the counter,” the factory workers say.
Another fundamental position is not to save on trifles. Bridgestone engineers believed that the on -board rings should be additionally “grabbed” with fabric island. This increases the cost, but guarantees that the ends of the steel wire from which the rings are rolled will not get out. And the new management has retained this ritual.
Cordiant
The production of the Cordiant Run Tour summer tire began, in the name of which Bridgestone Turanza is easily guessed. In addition, the serial production of winter studded models Cordiant Snow Max 7000 and Gislaved Spike Control is the Bridgestone Ice Cruiser 7000 and Bridgestone Blizzak Spike-02 reincarnation, respectively.
Cordiant
True, while the load is half: this year they want to make a maximum of 1.2 million tires. The gamma will include about a dozen sizes with a diameter of 14 to 18 inches, and the development of larger performances ahead, to which Chinese automakers have been accustomed to the Russian public in recent years.
In any case, the Cordiant Run Tour, Cordiant Snow Max 7000 and Gislaved Spike Control are old-like Bridges, which are not different from the original in composition, quality and set of their properties. The whole difference is in the name. /m
Gislaved PremiumControl Winter Tires Gislaved from Russia: what should you know about them? Torero MP47: Familiar tires under a new name
