Bridgestone Adding to Aiken County Plant

Bridgestone Americas will invest some $135 million to expand its Aiken County, S.C., tire plant.

The expansion will add 120 jobs and boost production capacity by 4,750 tires per day, according to the tiremaker.

The estimated 266,000-square-foot expansion will be up and running in 2013, Bridgestone said. Site preparation and construction will begin later this year, and production equipment will be installed in the third quarter of 2012.

Opened in 1998, the 1.8 million-square-foot fully automated plant employs about 900 people with a listed daily capacity of 25,000 passenger and light truck/SUV tires per day, primarily for OE sales.

“With demand steadily increasing over the last couple of years, now is the right time to increase capacity to meet the needs of our customers,” Larry Magee, consumer tire president of Bridgestone Americas, told local media. “Aiken County is the right place to expand our manufacturing footprint.”

Source: http://www.tirereview.com/Article/89839/Bridgestone-Adding-to-Aiken-County-Plant.aspx