TOKYO (March 21, 2008) — Bridgestone Corp. is planning to boost the scale of new radial aircraft tire capacity being installed at its Tokyo plant by two and half times the output originally envisioned to meet rising demand.
Bridgestone is budgeting $25 million for the project, with the new production to start initially later this year and be completely on stream by April 2010. The project will make the Tokyo plant the second Bridgestone factory to have capacity for radial aircraft tires. They currently are produced only at the firm's Kurume, Japan, plant.
The company did not disclose its capacity for the product at Kurume or the anticipated capacity at Tokyo.
Bridgestone said the investment confirms radial aircraft tires as a strategic product and as such operates aircraft tire retreading plants in the U.S., Belgium, Japan and China, including its newest one in Qingdao, China.