Bridgestone opens new plant in Russia

A ceremony to mark the start of production at a new Bridgestone passenger car tyre plant was held yesterday in Ulyanovsk Oblast, Russia. Volume production will commence in the fourth quarter of 2016.

The new facility is located in the Zavolzhye Industrial Zone, some 560 miles southeast of Moscow, and Bridgestone first announced its intention to build a factory there in April 2013. Groundbreaking at the site took place a year later, and at the time the tyre maker anticipated that production would start in the first half of this year.

The plant is operated by Bridgestone Tire Manufacturing C.I.S. LLC (BMCIS), a tyre manufacturing company jointly established by Bridgestone Corporation and Mitsubishi Corporation; Bridgestone Corporation holds 90 per cent equity ownership and Mitsubishi Corporation the remaining ten per cent. The facility will be able to produce 2 million tyres a year when running at full capacity, however plans are in place to double this should demand suffice.