Bridgestone begins construction of Hungary factory

Tatabanya, Hungary - Bridgestone Europe laid the foundation stone for its state-of-the-art tyre plant in Tatabanya, Hungary on Thursday 8 June. The factory will use Bridgestone's innovative BIRD process (Bridgestone Innovative & Rational Development) to make high-performance radial tyres for passenger cars and light trucks.

Construction will cost around €190 million, which will come from Bridgestone Hungary Manufacturing Ltd - a newly-formed subsidiary of Bridgestone Europe NV/SA. The plant is due to be on stream at the end of 2007. Production is scheduled to reach more than 8 000 tyres a day by 2009.

The foundation stone was laid by Takashi Urano, president, CEO and chairman of Bridgestone Europe, Mr József Vápár, Director General of the Ministry of economy and transport; Mr Miklós Horváth, Mayor of Kornye and Mr János Bencsik, Mayor of Tatabanya. “

This plant is vital for our European objective of steady, profitable growth” said Urano at the ceremony. “It is a showcase of advanced technology and a key asset in our strategy of focusing on high-value-added products in the extremely competitive European tyre market”.

Bridgestone has said very little about its BIRD process, except to claim that it is, "the most automated tyre production system in the world, automating the entire manufacturing sequence from processing raw materials through to inspecting finished tyres."

The company also said the system offers

• productivity more than twice as high as existing company production systems,
• it is more compact than current manufacturing systems;
• evolving tyre designs, structures and materials can be accommodated;
• it brings unprecedented quality gains, especially in tyre uniformity and balance;
• the environmental impact of manufacturing operations is minimised;
• it handles small production lots efficiently, enabling it to respond to demand for tyres of any specification and in any volumes.