Although Bridgestone Corp.’s new radial passenger tire factory in Vietnam has yet to enter operation, the tiremaker has announced the plant’s first capacity increase.
Following its expected start of operations in March 2014, Bridgestone Tire Manufacturing Vietnam originally planned for the factory in Hai Phong City to reach a capacity of 25,000 tires a day by the first half of 2016. An additional 17.9 billion yen will now be invested to further raise capacity to 49,000 tires a day by the second half of 2017, elevating total investment in the plant to 41.6 billion yen.
This further growth will see the plant’s workforce expand from approximately 1,900 employees in the first half of 2016 to around 3,800 some 18 months later.
The production increase is intended to meet ongoing global growth in demand for tires. The Hai Phong City factory will principally serve as an export base for shipping general-purpose tires to Europe, North America and Japan. (Tyres & Accessories)
