Bridgestone to expand car and light truck tire output at S.C. plant

Bridgestone's Aiken County, S.C., plant will begin producing an additional 4,750 car and light truck tires per day beginning in the spring of 2013. The $135 million investment will create 122 full-time and contractor positions and expand the facility by 266,000 square feet in the main plant and mixing areas.

“With demand steadily increasing over the last couple of years, now is the right time to increase capacity to meet the needs of our customers,” says Larry Magee, divisional president for the U.S. and Canada.

“Aiken County is the right place to expand our manufacturing footprint, and we thank Gov. Haley, Secretary Hitt and the Aiken County officials who worked nonstop to create a business environment that makes this expansion and the jobs it will create a reality,” he adds.

Site preparation and construction will begin later this year, and the manufacturing equipment will be installed in the fall of 2012. Construction is expected to be complete in early 2013 with production commencing early in the spring.

The plant, which began operations in 1998, earned LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) Silver Certification from the U.S. Green Building Council in 2009. LEED is awarded internationally to buildings for excellent energy and water efficiency, indoor environmental quality and resource stewardship. It is rarely awarded to existing manufacturing sites.

The facility has also been recognized as an OSHA Voluntary Protection Program (VPP) Star site. VPP status is awarded to companies that have excellent safety and health management systems and injury rates that are below the industry’s national average. It is one of only three tire factories in the country to receive OSHA’s highest honor; the other two are Bridgestone’s Warren County, Tenn., plant and the Bloomington, Ill., location.

For more information, visit www.bridgestone- firestone.com.