GRANITEVILLE, S.C.—Bridgestone/Firestone Inc. has begun production at its new passenger and light truck tire plant in Aiken County, S.C., 18 months after ground was broken. On March 12, the first truckload of 1,000 Firestone Wilderness AT tires was shipped from the $435 million facility, which eventually will employ about 650 workers. It currently has more than 400 employees.
BFS Chairman and CEO Masatoshi Ono said the plant has a production goal of 25,000 tires per day by the end of 2000.