Bridgestone opens OTR plant in Thailand

Tokyo – Bridgestone Corp. has opened an off-the-road (OTR) tire production plant in Rayong Province, Thailand, four years behind schedule.

The Japanese tire maker disclosed its plans to build the €467-million factory in 2012, with production scheduled for first half of 2015. The plant was then to ramp up to 85 tonnes per day by 2019.

However, in a statement 25 Oct, Bridgestone said the facility had a nameplate capacity of 35 tonnes per day, producing radial tires for construction and mining vehicles.

The unit is operated by Bridgestone Specialty Tire Manufacturing (Thailand) Co. Ltd and spans an area of 870,000 square metres.

The new factory will function as the first Bridgestone unit producing OTR tires in an Asian country other than Japan, the tire maker noted. 

With the new plant, Bridgestone expects to build a flexible production and supply system to be able to respond to medium- to long-term changes in demand.

Bridgestone also operates a radial truck and bus tire production plant in Chonburi, Thailand, with a capacity of 8000 unit/day, according to ERJ’s Global Tire Report 2018.