Bridgestone Americas Opens $3 Million Bandag Retread Training Center in Akron

Bridgestone Americas opened a $3 million Bandag Training Center on its Akron, Ohio campus on October 29, 2026, the company's second such facility. The company said in a PR Newswire release that the nearly 15,000-square-foot center will train commercial tire dealer and fleet teams on retreading.

Inside the Akron Bandag Training Center

The center sits in the company's tire test lab, next to the Bridgestone Americas Advanced Tire Production Center, and occupies nearly 15,000 square feet. It houses a complete retread facility with production-scale manufacturing equipment and stations for each of the ten retreading steps, plus a classroom and the Bandag history walk. Bridgestone said the facility aims to host hundreds of industry professionals each year through seminars and tailored classes of all sizes.

Brian Douglas, Vice President, Retread North America, said: "Bandag retreads have been a staple solution in the commercial tire industry for more than half a century." He added that with the second training center, "Bridgestone aims to strengthen its support for dealers and fleets, matching the value they get from retreads on the road."

The Akron site joins the established Bandag Learning Center in Muscatine, Iowa. When classes are not running, Bridgestone plans to use the Akron center as an additional site for tire-retreading innovations, with support from teams in Muscatine, Akron and Nashville to test new products and introduce new manufacturing equipment and processes.

Bridgestone's Commercial Network at a Glance

According to akta.pro company records, Bridgestone Americas runs a commercial network of approximately 4,000 locations across the U.S. and Canada under its commercial truck group. The same records list more than 2,200 Firestone Complete Auto Care, Tires Plus, Hibdon Tires Plus and Wheel Works stores under Bridgestone Retail Operations. Bridgestone Americas is the U.S.-based subsidiary of Bridgestone Corporation, headquartered in Nashville, Tennessee.

Earlier Bridgestone Americas Announcements

Bridgestone Americas announced on July 21, 2026, the second round of its Adaptive Sports in Schools grant program, awarding eight $25,000 grants totaling $200,000 to school districts and nonprofit organizations, according to Yahoo. On June 1, 2026, the company debuted its UltraWeather premium grand touring tire, designed for year-round performance across sedans, minivans, CUVs, SUVs and trucks, PR Newswire reported. Kid Spark Education and Bridgestone Americas said on May 26, 2026, that they expanded their partnership to fund six cost-free STEM and literacy programs at elementary schools during the 2026-2027 school year.

Bandag's Retread Track Record

Bandag has supplied tire-retreading solutions since 1957 and operates three pre-cured tread rubber manufacturing facilities, a retread equipment manufacturing facility and a mold manufacturing plant in the United States to support North America. Over its 65-year history, Bandag has diverted more than 300 million tires from landfills by extending their service lives through retreading, according to the company's announcement.