The world’s largest tyre-maker Bridgestone announced recently that it will invest approximately EUR266 million into three key European production sites. The funds will be used to expand plant production capacity, purchase cutting-edge equipment and optimise existing production lines.
Bridgestone production facilities in Burgos (Spain), Poznan and Stargard (Poland), will be upgraded significantly as a result of this investment. In addition to strengthening its #1 position in the worldwide tyre market, Bridgestone’s production investment drives a richer product mix in terms of both brands and sizes. It also allows Bridgestone to respond in an agile way to the continuously growing demand for premium Bridgestone products, including the new Turanza T005. This is an integral part of Bridgestone plans to offer superior service to its customers.
The investment is intended to expand plant capacity with new equipment and optimised existing production lines. Changes include the installation of the most advanced production technology available in autonomous vehicle systems and high-capacity machinery. These new technologies enhance the plants’ ability to produce sophisticated, high-quality tyres, and are expected to boost output capacity with more than 20 %.
“Increasing demand from our replacement and original equipment partners for our outstanding and diverse range of premium tyres drives this investment”, explains Paolo Ferrari, CEO and President of Bridgestone EMEA. “This next step enables us to bring our products even closer to our partners and further strengthens Bridgestone’s footprint in the region.”
The investment will be phased over the next five years, with all upgrades being completed by early 2022. “We will be collaborating with local business partners and leveraging the extensive know-how and experience of our employees to realise these key improvements”, Ferrari says.