Bridgestone to invest $2B in premium plant upgrades

TOKYO — Bridgestone Corp. is planning to invest $2 billion over the coming few years at 20 factories worldwide to "reinforce its structure for producing premium products," the company said in its recently released 2023 Integrated Report.

For passenger tires, Bridgestone said it will focus investments on production of larger-rim-diameter tires and products equipped with the group's Enliten "light-weighting" technology.

"To put it simply, Enliten is a base technology which enables 'ultimate customization' to 'sharpen edge' in tire performance," Global CEO Shuichi Ishibashi wrote in the report. "In other words, it elevates all conventional performances and, in addition, largely evolves environmental performance leading to sustainability, as well as performance that not only meet the apparent needs and potential wants of specific markets and customers, but that further inspires and delivers new value which the market and customer may not have even imagined."

The investment plan will include replacing manufacturing equipment at 20 sites worldwide, with increased production capacity envisioned at plants in Brazil, Costa Rica and Japan.

In North America and Europe, the firm has set a goal of having larger rim-diameter tires (those 18 inches and above) account for roughly 65% of its original equipment sales volume and 40% of replacement market passenger tire sales volume in 2023.

Additionally, the company will focus on tires with 20-inch and larger rim diameters to meet what it expects will be "strong" growth in demand tied to the accelerated shift to electric vehicles, in particular in the U.S., which is Bridgestone's largest market.

For truck/bus tires, the manufacturing structure for new tires and retreads will be strengthened based on a circular business model, with particular emphasis on North America, where the firm has a strong business foundation.

In the off-the-road mining vehicles, the Tokyo group said it was investing in production in response "to sales and market share expansion" mainly for its Mastercore tires. SIN particular, Bridgestone cited production "reinforcements" at its Shimonoseki and Kitakyushu, Japan, tire plants and the Saga, Japan, steel-cord factory.

In the update, Bridgestone also stated that it would ensure its investments "are lean through on-site productivity improvement and by fully leveraging existing equipment."

These investments, plus those carried out the past few years, also support a key parameter of Bridgestone's 2030 Long Term Strategic Aspiration, that of achieving increased "local for local" footprint — i.e., local production for local sales — as a fundamental aspect of plans for carbon neutrality.

Through investments made or committed to reinforce production during the 2021-23 Mid Term Business Plan, the firm expects to achieve a local-to-local sales ratio of 95% for passenger car tires and 85% for truck and bus tires. For the 2024-25 Mid-Term Business Plan, investments for green and smart factories will be reinforced.

The overall strategy, Bridgestone said, is to build a "flexible and agile" supply-chain management capable of adapting to change.

For consumer and truck/bus tires, the group is building a structure that has the flexibility to adapt to changes in the business environment while keeping local for local as the basic concept while continuing to recognized regional strengths and characteristics such as those between North America and Europe, and Asia and Japan.

Japan will remain the core of manufacturing, supporting the premium tire business where high-levels of on-site and technological capabilities are required, such as for high-difficulty specialties tires including off-the-road mining tires and aircraft tires, Bridgestone said.

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This article includes additional reporting by Tire Business staff.