Bridgestone sees benefits in modular building technology

TOKYO — Bridgestone Corp. is planning to adopt a modular tire-building process at four tire factories globally—including the plant in Joliette, Quebec—that it expects will reduce costs and streamline production planning.

The in-house-developed technology, dubbed BCMA (Bridgestone commonality modularity architecture), is designed to modularize complex tire components in three sections: carcass, belt and tread.

Benefits Bridgestone said it expects BCMA to yield include: reduced changeover man-hours through module sharing; more streamlined production planning and product development; and much lower conversion costs.

Implementing BCMA is expected to enable the sharing of tire development modules, simplify supply-chains and allow more agile research and development and production, Bridgestone told European Rubber Journal in 2023.

The other plants targeted for adoption of the process are in Burgos, Spain; Nong Khae, Thailand; and Tochigi, Japan.

Bridgestone anticipates moving most consequentially with the conversion at the Tochigi plant, where deployment is expected to reach 80 percent in 2026, up from 30 percent in the current year.

Bridgestone is targeting BCMA deployment at the Burgos and Nong Khae plants of 60 percent and 30 percent, respectively, by 2026. The company did not comment on the BCMA integration at Joliette.

During the 2024-2026 mid-term business plan, the group aims to switch 50% of its global passenger tire production to BCMA, according to Bridgestone's 2024 Integrated Report.