AMATA CITY, Thailand — Bridgestone Corp. has opened an off-the-road tire plant in Amata City, four years behind schedule.
The Japanese tire maker disclosed its plans to build the $569 million factory in 2012, with production scheduled for first half of 2015, centered predominantly on tires with rim diameters up to 51 inches. The plant was then to ramp up to 85 metric tons per day by 2019.
However, in a statement issued Oct. 25, Bridgestone said the facility opens with a nameplate capacity of 35 tons per day, producing radial tires for construction and mining vehicles.
"We will strive to contribute to Thailand and local communities by developing high-quality and high-value-add tires for our customers based on Bridgestone Group's mission 'Serving Society with Superior Quality'," Masahiro Higashi, senior vice president, Bridgestone Corp., said during the opening event.
Bridgestone did not comment on the reasons for the delay in opening the factory.
The unit is operated by Bridgestone Specialty Tire Manufacturing (Thailand) Co. Ltd. and spans an area of 9.3 million square feet.
The new factory will function as the first Bridgestone unit producing OTR tires in an Asian country other than Japan, the tire maker noted. It's Bridgestone's sixth OTR tire plant worldwide, including two in the U.S. — in Bloomington, Ill., and Trenton, S.C. — and three in Japan.
With the new plant, Bridgestone expects to build a flexible production and supply system to be able to respond to medium- to long-term changes in demand.
Bridgestone has three other tire plants in Thailand — a passenger/light truck tire plant in Nong Khae; a multi-product plant in Ransit; and a radial truck tire plant in Chonburi — and is building a pair of aircraft tire factories there as well.
The two plants, scheduled to start production in late 2019, will support the group's worldwide aircraft tire solutions system.
Bridgestone is considered one of five major producers of radial aircraft tires worldwide, along with Dunlop Aircraft Tyres, Group Michelin, Goodyear and Yokohama Rubber Co. Ltd. China's Sentury Group is also growing in the sector.
The four existing plants in Thailand employ more than 5,000 workers and produce more than 56,000 units daily.