SHENYANG, China (Feb. 22, 2013) — Bridgestone Corp. has tripled the size of the investment it's making to relocate its 18-year-old Bridgestone (Shenyang) Tire Co. Ltd. truck tire plant to a larger site in a Shenyang industrial park to $300 million.
Bridgestone said the decision to move the plant is "in accordance with Shenyang City development policies," which have been revised in light of urban growth around the existing Shenyang City plant. The tire maker acquired the factory from Shenyang Santai Tire Co. Ltd. in stages, starting with a 60-percent share in 1999.
Bridgestone said it expects the plant to be in operation before year-end 2014, with a nameplate capacity of 5,000 radial truck and bus tires a day with 1,200 employees. That represents a one-third boost in capacity from the current plant's output.
Bridgestone initially had put the size of the investment at $99.9 million.
The new site covers about 4.25 million square feet at the Shenyang Chemical Industry Park, which is part of the Shenyang Economic and Technological Development Zone southwest of Shenyang proper.
Group Michelin went through a similar experience in Shenyang, where it replaced a 17-year-old factory with a $1.46 billion tire plant in Shenyang Economic and Technological Development Zone.
At full capacity, that new plant is expected to have annual capacities of 10 million car tires, 1.8 million truck tires and 295,000 retreads with 1,500 employees. Michelin ceremoniously inaugurated production at the plant on Jan. 26 and said production of car and light truck tires will start by mid-year.