Employing 300 people in a seven-day-a-week business, the factory contributes an estimated $23.8 million a year to Christchurch’s economy, said John Staples, the general sales manager for Bridgestone New Zealand.

The plant was originally built by the Firestone Tire & Rubber Co. as one of eight manufacturing facilities the company then had outside of the U.S. The factory now has the capacity to produce 5,000 tires a day, and exports 40% of its output, Staples said.

"Our relationship with all the communities we are part of is very important to us, and the Christchurch community in particular with the presence of our factory," Staples said.