Bridgestone Resumes Rubber Rolling Ahead of Schedule

Bridgestone has resumed rubber-rolling operations at its Tochigi refining facility two months ahead of schedule. Production was suspended after the building was destroyed by fire in September 2003.

Bridgestone is likely to be pleased with the news because the company will no longer have to transport rubber from other plants. Before the fire Bridgestone had to absorb the significant costs involved in transporting rubber from factories both inside Japan and abroad. The news also means that the company will have the opportunity to expand its production rates in the future, now that is has more space.

The Tochigi factory is currently running at 85 per cent of its full capacity. Now that work on the refining facility has been completed the company plans to use the Tochigi plant to process rubber produced on site. Bridgestone expects the plant to be running at full capacity by December.