Bridgestone

Bridgestone to boost US production with $135M investment

Bridgestone has announced it will be investing US$135 million into its Aiken County factory in the United States.

This investment is expected to increase its output of passenger car and light truck tyres by an additional 4,750 units a day, starting from the second quarter of 2013.

Along with increased output, the investment will also create 122 new full-time and contractor positions and expand the main Aiken County plant and mixing buildings by 266,000 square feet (25,000 square metres).

“With demand steadily increasing over the last couple of years, now is the right time to increase capacity to meet the needs of our customers,” said Larry Magee, present, Consumer Tire U.S & Canada, Bridgestone Americas Tire Operations.

Site preparation and construction at the factory is scheduled to begin in the fourth quarter of 2011 and new manufacturing equipment will be installed in the third quarter of 2012. Construction is expected to be completed by the first quarter of 2013 with production commencing early in the following quarter.

The Aiken County facility produced its first tyre in August 1998 and was producing 25,000 tyres a day within ten days. In 2009 the site earned LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) Silver Certification from the US Green Building Council. This certification recognises outstanding environmental building design and utilisation, and is rarely given to established manufacturing sites.