NONG KHAE, Thailand (Sept. 10, 2010)—Bridgestone Corp.'s Thai Bridgestone Co. Ltd. subsidiary is budgeting $255 million through 2014 to expand capacity for car and light truck tires at its Nong Khae tire plant 37 percent to 50,000 tires daily.
The expansion comes on top of a three-year project to boost the 15-year-old plant's capacity 20 percent to 36,500 tires daily, Bridgestone said, and is being undertaken to meet growing market demands. The plant supplies tires both to the domestic and export markets, including North America and Europe, the company said.
Bridgestone did not say whether the project will require expanding the size of the plant, which sits on a 163-acre site, or what effect it will have on the factory's employment, which stands at 1,583. When completed, the plant will become Bridgestone's largest passenger tire factory worldwide.
Bridgestone Corp. owns a 69.2-percent stake in Thai Bridgestone, one of two manufacturing companies Bridgestone operates in Thailand. Thai Bridgestone operates a second plant in Ransit, which makes passenger, truck, farm, OTR and industrial tires.
Bridgestone's other Thai subsidiary, Bridgestone Tire Manufacturing (Thailand) Co. Ltd., makes radial truck tires at a plant in Chonburi.