Bridgestone to upgrade Spain plant's premium output

BURGOS, Spain—Bridgestone Corp. plans to invest up to $224 million over six years in its 48-year-old Burgos tire plant to shift capacity toward higher-value, larger rim-diameter passenger and van tires.

The investment is designed to increase capacity for larger car tires (those of 18-inch rim diameter and larger) by 75 percent to over 7 million units a year by 2030, Bridgestone said, while capacity for smaller rim-diameter tires will be phased out.

At the same time, the project will make the Burgos plant one of the firm's largest sites for van tire production in Europe, Bridgestone said, without commenting on the overall effect on the plant's capacity, which is rated at nearly 26,900 tires a day.

Productivity gains are to be delivered via enhanced automation, increased vulcanization capacity and the construction of an automated warehouse to enhance production flexibility, Bridgestone said, while noting this is one of the firm's largest ever in Europe.

Incorporating Bridgestone's "Communality Modularity Architecture" will improve agility in its production processes and ensure further simplification for efficiency, the company said.

As a result of anticipated productivity improvements on the scale of 20 percent, Bridgestone does not anticpate the investment will result in an increase in the plant's employment, which stands at roughly 1,320 at last report.

"At Bridgestone, we are moving into a new phase of European and global growth by combining innovation and sustainability at our Burgos facility in Spain," Emilio Tiberio, chief technology officer of the Bridgestone West, said.

"This multi-million-euro investment is aimed at strengthening our premium tire business by increasing our productivity, logistics autonomy and tire offering in the high-value segments," Tiberio added.

The project also will take the plant's environmental footprint into account, Bridgestone said, noting that the modernization measures will help reduce the plant's CO2 output by 410 metric tons per year compared with current levels.

The plant—one of three factories Bridgestone operates in Spain—already contributes to Bridgestone's E8 sustainability goals through the use of over 20,000 solar panels installed WHEN on the plant's roof.

Covering a surface equivalent to five football fields, the solar array can generate up to 9.2 megawatts of power, equivalent to 10 percent to 14 percent of the plant's electric energy consumption. On the sunniest days, the factory's total energy consumption is covered by this renewable energy source during peak hours.

The Burgos plant is one of 16 that Bridgestone earmarked for modernization/expansion last summer in its mid- to long-term growth strategy.

It also benefited from a $315 million investment package Bridgestone disclosed in 2017 for it and two plants in Poland.

Bridgestone's other plants in Spain are a truck/bus tire factory in Bilbao and a farm and OTR tire plant in Puente San Miguel.