Goodyear wins excellence award from Caterpillar Brasil once again

Goodyear received an Excellent award from Caterpillar Brasil. It is a demonstration of recognition of the supplier's quality. Since 2011, Goodyear has maintained a high level. Delivery took place in Americana (SP).

Gustavo Hideki Teramoto, director of OEM Brazil at the company, praised the award. “It is recognition for the continuous improvement of our products and processes, which seek to meet the current needs of our customers in the best possible way.”

About Goodyear

Goodyear has been in Brazil for over 100 years. It has two industrial units, both in the state of São Paulo: in Americana and in Santa Bárbara do Oeste.

Its story is quite curious. In 1833, in the United States, Charles goodyear decided to find uses for rubber. Others had used it for shoes and coats, but they melted during the summer heat. Goodyear believed that rubber could be "tanned" or "cured" like animal skins. He tried adding various chemicals to change the properties of the rubber.

In 1838, he met Nathanael Hayward, who discovered that mixing sulfur with rubber and exposing it to sunlight reduced its viscosity. He cured the mixture in an acid bath, which stabilized the rubber. He went into business in Woburn, Massachusetts, producing rubber products such as life preservers and mail bags. But prolonged exposure to heat still melted the product.

In 1839, Charles accidentally dropped a piece of sulfur-coated rubber he was holding onto the surface of a hot stove, where it burned like leather. The high temperature and short exposure to heat changed the properties not only of the treated rubber surface, but of the entire sample. He called the heating process vulcanization -- in reference to the Roman god of fire, Vulcan.

At first the process was hit and later failed. But in 1841, Goodyear successfully applied the vulcanization process using heated cast iron.