Bridgestone to Better Service Peru OTR Market with New Company

Peru has become a key location for the sale of OTR tyres in recent times, and to better serve this market Bridgestone Corporation opened a newly established sales company there on September 1. Called “Bridgestone Off-The-Road Tire Peru S.A.C.”, the company is to specialise in tyres for mining and construction equipment.

Bridgestone has previously established a sales company in Chile specifically to handle sales and services for OTR tyres in use at the numerous mines located throughout Central and South America, specifically in Peru, Chile and Mexico. In light of the continuing large-scale investment projects in Peru’s mining industry, Bridgestone sees a new sales company solely for Peru as a means to further strengthen the sales and service system for OTR tyres there. This decision has also been made in accordance with plans to increase the capacity of large and ultra-large OTR radial tyres at the company’s new Kitakyushu Plant, which will begin production in 2009.

The new Peru sales company is located in the national capital, Lima, and was established with an investment of US$1 million. It is a wholly owned subsidiary of Bridgestone Off-The-Road Tire Latin America S.A., the sales company in Chile specialising in OTR tyres. The Chile operation in turn is a subsidiary of Bridgestone Corporation. Ten persons are employed by the Peru sales company, which is headed up by Takashi Ono.

Large and ultra-large OTR radials are seen as areas of growth, states Bridgestone. As such, the company is positioning these items as strategic products and is working towards acquiring a strong competitive advantage in the market. The Bridgestone Group, says the company, has created a comprehensive business model for OTR tyres. Besides providing quality tyres in this area, efforts are made to supply the most appropriate tyres to customers based on an analysis of usage conditions and vehicle characteristics in order to respond to demanding conditions. In addition, tyre repairs and consulting services on the proper use and maintenance of these tyres are provided on-site.