Michelin Tyres: shaping the world of transportation for over 100 years

Michelin is a name that is now known the world over. It is a company with a colorful history marked by innovative triumphs that revolutionized the world of transportation.

It also connotes a long-standing, trusted brand that produces technologically advanced tyres, which provide safety, comfort and value-add to drivers.

From its modest beginnings as a family business in the French industrial town of Clermont Ferrand, Michelin now spans almost 180 countries with a workforce of more than 120,000 people. In 2002, reported sales were in excess of 15 billion euros.

However, the fact that millions of people are now "driving on Michelins" owes much to chance as to design. The founders of the Michelin company were brothers Edouard and André Michelin, and neither were groomed nor trained for a future in running a tyre company.

When they took over their family’s declining rubber and agricultural goods company in 1889, André Michelin was an engineer and Edouard Michelin an artist. They seemed ill-suited to play the new roles that were thrust upon them. However, the brothers quickly discovered new talents — André in marketing and Edouard in inventing — and proceeded to change the tyre and the Michelin fortunes forever.

Through perseverance, some fortuitous meetings, and great ingenuity, the Michelin brothers were to invent the world’s first detachable tyre in 1891. Bicycle tyres, in those days, were glued to the rim and took hours to repair. With this new removable tyre, the repair job took minutes instead.

With the victory of racing cyclist Charles Thiery, the first and only competitor to use the new Michelin tyre in the Paris-Brest-Paris race, the invention proved itself and immediately gained favor with the public. A year later some 10,000 cyclists were using Michelin tyres.

Michelin also added to its list of inventions the detachable steel wheel in 1913, which is the prototype of today’s wheel, as well as the first low-pressure passenger car tyre.

Michelin was also responsible for creating some of the first ever commercial travel guides. The first Michelin Red Guide was produced in 1900, and a century later the guide remains the main reference for any refined traveler and proffers the Michelin stars so coveted by chefs and restaurants around the world.

The spirit of inventiveness has been carried through by subsequent Michelin generations, and culminated in an invention in 1946 that radically changed the way tyres have been made since. In June 1946, Michelin filed for a patent for the radial tyre, revolutionizing the way car tyres are constructed.

Fast forward to the present day, and we find the family Michelin still at the company helm. Edouard Michelin, who bears the same name as his founding great grandfather, leads the company with the same pioneering spirit and focus on technological advancement.

Innovations such as the Michelin PAX system, a revolutionary run-flat technology that is poised to be the next technological leap forward after the radial, are keeping Michelin in the innovation-driving seat in the 21st century. The PAX system is a new tyre construction that will allow drivers to run on a completely flat tyre for up to 200 kilometers at 80 kilometers an hour without any discernable loss of control or driving comfort. Apart from the increased safety element of PAX, the ability to do away with the spare tyre will have far-reaching implications for car manufacturers in the way they design their vehicles for the future.

Michelin innovations have found their way into all tire categories from mountain bikes to aircraft — virtually every vehicle that makes use of tires. The company has also taken the bold move of "customizing" their tyres for driving conditions in different parts of the world. In Asia, for example, the company has employed its vast resources and technological know-how to develop tyres such as the Pilot Preceda. These tyres were designed to be "world-beaters" a move that underlines the company’s focus in Asia as its next frontier.

Michelin is also making its mark in the motorsports arena. The company re-entered the Formula One arena in 2001, after a hiatus of 17 years. Into its third season, Michelin has made tremendous progress, and has achieved full trust and confidence from its racing partners.

With the advent of computer navigation systems, Michelin is also reinventing its maps and guides business. Michelin recently launched Via Michelin, the electronic version of its maps.

In 2000, Bibendum, the Michelin Man, was elected "best worldwide logo of the century" by an international panel of twenty personalities from the art, communication, design and architecture industries in a competition organized by the Financial Times. It was a great achievement for the mascot, who was born in France a little more than 100 years ago, and testimony to the innovation and global vision of the company.

There seems to be no doubt that as mobility in the world changes, the Michelin company seems determined not only to change with it, but to be out in front of the pack.

In the Philippines, Michelin tyres such as the Pilot Preceda and Energy MXV8 are distributed exclusively by Tiara Commercial & Industrial Corp. For more information, call 8132786 and 8132548.