Bridgestone offers new services to OTR tire customers

Nashville, Tennessee-based Bridgestone Americas Inc. has announced two free job site resources for customers in the construction, aggregates, mining and other severe-duty application sectors. The preshift inspection poster and video have been designed to provide “general guidelines to identify and report irregular tire, rim and wheel conditions early, lowering the lifecycle cost of OTR (off the road) tires,” says the company.

“OTR tires face some of the toughest conditions in the world, and at Bridgestone, we are committed to helping our customers work as safely and efficiently as possible–whatever the conditions,” says Rob Seibert, director of marketing for commercial off-the-road tires for Bridgestone Americas Tire Operations. “Whether through our state-of-the-art products or these educational resources, we always strive to deliver a comprehensive approach for our customers to manage their tire assets.”

Bridgestone recommends customers conduct daily preshift inspections and conduct frequent formal inspections using an integrated tire and rim management tracking system. Bridgestone TreadStat software features a mobile inspection app and offers customizable dashboards, designed to make it easier to record and upload inspection data for every tire in a fleet.

A regular tire inspection and maintenance program is crucial to safety and productivity, according to Bridgestone. The inspection poster and video provide guidelines to identify tire conditions before every shift, ideally preventing unplanned downtime. Those steps include:

• inspecting for irregular wear or flat spots in the tread and shoulder;
• looking for any bulges or separations in the sidewall;
• ensuring there are no cracks, splits, leaks or breaks in the beads;
• examining rust or corrosion of components on the wheel and rim;
• checking inflation levels and examining the tire for any loose or damaged valve stems; and
• reporting any damage or issues immediately to a supervisor.

The preshift inspection poster and video are available for download in the United States and Canada via this Web page.

Bridgestone Americas is the U.S. subsidiary of Tokyo-based Bridgestone Corp., one of the world’s largest tire and rubber companies. The company develops, manufactures and markets a range of tires for passenger, commercial and off-road vehicles.