TOKYO (Oct. 7, 2004) — Bridgestone Corp. will invest $94.3 million over 12 months to build a plant in Shenyang, China, for making steel tire cord to support its growing tire production capacity there.
Bridgestone has established a subsidiary, Bridgestone (Shenyang) Steel Cord Co., to operate the new plant, which should start production of steel cord in October 2005. The plant should reach its designated daily capacity of 70 metric tons by year-end 2007, the company said, with 260 employees.
The new plant, designed to make cord for radial truck tires, will be Bridgestone's sixth steel cord plant, operating alongside plants in Kuroiso and Saga, Japan, Clarksville, Tenn., Cagliari, Italy and Rayong, Thailand. It will dedicate most of its output to Bridgestone's nearby truck tire plant, Bridgestone (Shenyang) Tire Co. Ltd.