Carmel, Indiana- Firestone Industrial Products has announced plans to build an airspring plant in Wolsztyn, western Poland. The unit should be operational by the end of 2004 and is likely to employ 100 to 200 people in manufacturing, managerial and other functions. Firestone said the plant represents an investment of about $10 million and will cover an area of about 8000 m2. The Polish plant will be FIP's first outside the Americas.
The unit will make airsprings destined for original equipment manufacturers in Europe for both cars and trucks. FIP claims to be world leader in airspring manufacture, but has previously served the European sector from overseas factories and a warehouse in Rotterdam.
The company, based in Carmel, Indiana currently has three manufacturing sites in the US: Noblesville, Indiana; Williamsburg, Kentucky and Dyersburg, Tennessee. The company also has a large plant in Sao Paulo, Brazil.
FIP is a subsidiary of BFS Diversified Products which is itself a subsidiary of Bridgestone Americas Holding Inc., based in Nashville, Tennessee. BFS is responsible for Bridgestone's non-tyre business.
