TOKYO—Bridgestone Corp. is looking to reduce costs by $450 million (Yen 65 billion) by the end of 2024 through various cost-saving measures across its global operations.
Among other steps, the group aims to reduce fixed costs in sales, production and inventory, "in line with the number of units sold," Bridgestone announced Aug. 9 in its first-half financial statement.
In particular, Bridgestone plans to optimize production capacity mainly for truck and bus tires in North America and Europe, the tire maker added.
The process will involve shortening the number of operating days and suspending some process activities to improve the profitability of the TBR business.
As part of the initiative, Bridgestone also aims to "review, reduce and optimize" production-related investments from the second half of 2024 to 2025.
Other planned moves will include cost-reductions in global procurement; transformation of logistics globally; employment of the Bridgestone Commonality Modularity Architecture (BCMA), which is designed to modularize complex tire components in three sections: carcass, belt and tread; and a shift to being "green and smart" by reducing energy consumption and improving productivity by promoting automation.
To that end, Bridgestone said it expected to "reduce assets" through inventory reduction, contributing a total of $353 million globally for the full year.
The Japanese group will then "establish a lean system structure for 2025," it added.
Across the entire value-chain, Bridgestone said it expects to cut costs by $450 million for the full-year, with savings of $235 million to be achieved in the first half.
