Bridgestone investing €160m in Poznan tire plant

Poznan, Poland – Bridgestone Corp. is investing more than €160 million to expand and upgrade its tire production facility in Poznan, according to a company press release issued in Poland.

The investment, to be carried out through to 2022, will involve modernising and optimising the existing manufacturing lines, said a translated version of the release supplied 7 Aug by Bridgestone.

“We are planning to increase the daily production volume of tire from current 31,000 to 40,000,” commented Roman Staszewski, managing director of Bridgestone Poznan.

The investment was initially announced as part of a €260-million, five-year expansion plan in Europe, aimed at enhancing product-mix both in terms of brands and sizes.

The investment in Poznan will also involve expanding the physical site, which already sits on 26 hectares of land.

In response to ERJ’s query, Bridgestone said the investment would encompass “process automation, capacity increase, further improvement of process accuracy and ergonomic of work improvement.”

Additionally, the warehouse capacity at the site will be increased.

One of the most advanced Bridgestone tire plants, the Poznan factory produces premium tires, high-performance tires, run-flat technology tires and “ologic” low-rolling-resistance tires.

The plant supplies tires to leading OEMs including Volkswagen, BMW, Audi, Maserati, Porsche and Mercedes, and is the only Bridgestone facility to manufacture soundproof B-Silent and B-Seal tires.

In October 2017, Bridgestone announced a €266-million, phased-investment programme across three of its EU tire manufacturing operations.

As well as Poznan, Bridgestone said its Stargard plant in Poland and Burgos facility in Spain would be “upgraded significantly” by early 2022.

The programme, it said, would include the installation of the “most advanced production technology available” in autonomous vehicle systems and high-capacity machinery.

The aim is to increase the plants’ ability to produce sophisticated, high-quality tires, and raise output capacity with more than 20%, added last year’s statement.