Bridgestone Corp. held a grand opening ceremony for its first tire plant in Vietnam, which will serve as a key export base to Europe, North America and Japan when fully operational.
The Bridgestone Tire Manufacturing Vietnam Limited Liability Co. (BTMV) plant started production of passenger car radial tires (PSR) in April 2014. Total production capacity is expected to reach 49,000 tires per day by the second half of 2017.
The new plant is located in Hai Phong City.
“Bridgestone expresses our sincere gratitude to the government of Vietnam, Hai Phong City and all cooperating members, for allowing us to make BTMV a reality,” says Masaaki Tsuya, CEO and representative board member, and chairman of the Bridgestone Corp. board.
The plant is increasing manufacturing output daily according to Teruo Kunitake, general director of BTMV.
Bridgestone Corp. has 100% ownership of the $447.8 million plant. As of Sept. 2014, the plant had approximately 1,100 employees. Bridgestone says the plant will produce about 10,000 tires per day by the end of 2014. By the second half of 2017, the plant is expected to employ 3,800 people producing 49,000 tires a day.
