We’re all driven by something, sometimes different things in different areas of our lives. And in this issue of Real Answers, we’re going to focus mainly on people, companies and situations we’ll call “data-driven.”

To be data-driven means that like Joe Friday, you want, “Just the facts,” the numbers that prove performance. Sometimes, those numbers represent big improvements, sometimes tiny ones.

For Don Wahlin of Stoughton Trailers, having his own trucking company meant just-in-time control of materials deliveries, enabling workers to always have what they need and reducing materials handling – a huge improvement in costs.

For Tom Jarvi and Larry Malone of Consolidated Freightways, every component, including tires, has to be subjected to a rigorous analysis of total cost of ownership. Even tiny factors, like a small fuel economy advantage, mean a lot when you have over 7,000 tractors!

Fleets using single drive axles may be able to measurably improve tire cost per mile and soft-surface traction by switching to Bridgestone’s new M725 ultra-deep, openshoulder drive radial.

And, if you’re eager to improve your bottom line, you
may wish to call on the Bridgestone field sales engineering department to help you get more low-cost miles from your tires.

We’ll look at how you can benefit from effective scrap tire analysis data, how to play the numbers to help solve an axle-end problem, and take a look at some of the stranger things we’ve found inside customers’ tires.

Finally, we’ll look at some folks not data-driven, but who are driven nonetheless. It’s the story of Keith and Judy Wise, and how they enlisted hundreds of friends – and a barbecue expert – to help raise money to fight a deadly disease of children.

Now, we hope you’ll be driven to turn the page and dive into this issue of Real Answers.