Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co (GT) Q1 2020 Earnings Call Transcript

Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co (GT) Q1 2020 Earnings Call Transcript

I'd like to welcome everyone to Goodyear's First Quarter 2020 Earnings Call.. I'm joined today by Rich Kramer, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer; and Darren Wells, Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer.. Our business was first affected by COVID-19 in China, but over the course of the first quarter, the impact became widespread.. Our first quarter volumes fell 18%, and segment operating income fell into negative territory given the effects of lower volume and unabsorbed overhead.. Members of our fleet services team have also been working hard to keep our fleet customers up and running.. The most significant of these actions was idling production across the majority of our global manufacturing facilities and chemical plants.. The favorable developments leave us cautiously optimistic that the volume recovery phase has begun in China, and we're positioning our business there and around the world for the recovery.. And we anticipate truck ton miles will decline in the second half of the year.. Think in terms of the need for dealers and distributors to operate with lower inventory levels during this crisis putting a premium on tire manufacturers on time supply.. In our previous calls, we outlined a series of steps we've taken