Bridgestone produces first tire at expanded South Carolina plant

On April 1, 2013, Bridgestone Americas announced it had begun production at its new $346 million expansion at its tire plant in Aiken County, South Carolina. The new capacity can produce 12,750 passenger car and light truck tires per day. In July of 2011, the company announced the first phase of the PSR/LTR plant’s expansion, a $135 million investment designed to increase daily capacity by 4,750 tires. A supplemental expansion was announced in September 2011 to increase the plant’s tire production by an additional 8,000 tires per day. The result is a rated production capacity of 37,750 tires per day or approximately 13.4 million tires annually. This capacity focuses on ultra-high performance and light truck/SUV tires.