Bridgestone to build truck tyre plant in Poland

Stargard Szczecinski, Poland - Further to rumours surfacing a week ago, Bridgestone has confirmed it will build a truck and bus tyre factory in the north-west of Poland. The unit will be on stream early in 2009, reaching full capacity of around 5000 tyres per day two years later. Bridgestone has allocated funding of €200 million for the project.

The new plant will be operated by a wholly-owned subsidiary of Bridgestone Europe NV/SA planned for establishment in Poland. Announcing the project, Takashi Urano, Chairman, CEO & President of Bridgestone Europe said “This is an important step towards making our European supply chain less reliant on tyres imported from outside Europe”.

Bridgestone said the new factory would produce radial tyres for trucks and buses and be located in the suburbs of Stargard Szczecinski, Zachodniopomorskie province, Poland. The town has a population of about 74 000 and is around 40 km from both the German border and the port city of Sczcecin on the Baltic coast.

Rumours surfacing in the Polish press a week ago indicated that the plant would employ about 800 with more jobs created through indirect effects of the new investment.

Bridgestone already makes car tyres at its Poznan Plant in Poland, and the cmpany is currently building an advanced "BIRD" car tyre facility in Hungary. Thus, the new plant will be the company's third tyre plant in Eastern Europe. The new plant will be the 51st plant in Bridgestone's global production network for tyres, which spans 24 nations, including Brazil, Mexico, China and Hungary.