Bridgestone to Build a Plant for Retread Materials in Thailand
-The Base for the Development of Solutions Business-
Tokyo (July 10, 2009) - Bridgestone Corporation announced today its decision to construct a new plant for the production of precure tread *1 for retread tires. This production base will help Bridgestone increase sales of its retread products as well as develop its solutions business in Japan, Asia, and China. Construction of the new plant is scheduled to start in July 2009, and production is expected to commence at the facility in November 2010.
Tires are retreaded by removing the worn tread (the part of the tire that touches the ground), adding new tread rubber and vulcanizing it so that the tire can be reused. Compared to new tires, retread tires can make a major environmental contribution in three ways.
- Contribute to resource conservation, as compared to new tires, retread tires can reduce by two-thirds consumption of raw materials such as natural rubber.
- Reduce CO2 emissions generated in tire production.
- Contribute to reducing the number of tires scrapped by maximizing their total life
Bridgestone’s retread tires are widely used on trucks and buses, aircraft, and construction and mining vehicles. In particular, the retread business is mature in both Europe and the United States for use on trucks and buses. In addition, the retread tire markets for trucks and buses are rapidly growing in Japan, Asia, and China.
Bridgestone has positioned Japan, Asia, and China as growth markets. In Japan, it has been developing its Eco Value Pack business and expanding its solutions business, which supports customers as they implement their environmental management activities and work to reduce their total tire-related costs.
In addition, in Asia and China, it has been further expanding its network of Bandag *2 franchises, and with the establishment of this new plant, Bridgestone will secure a production base of retread materials which enables further development of its retread and solutions business in each of these markets.
The Bridgestone Group continuously strives to accurately identify, interpret and address market trends, and it has been carrying out planned and strategic investment to create an optimized retread and solutions business model that can swiftly meet the requirements of customers all over the world.
An outline of the new plant is as follows.
| 1. Company name | : Bridgestone Bandag Manufacturing (Thailand) Co., Ltd. | ||||||||||||
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| 2. Managing Director | : Masao Kobayashi | ||||||||||||
| 3. Start of production | : Planned by November 2010 | ||||||||||||
| 4. Plant | |||||||||||||
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*1 Pre-vulcanized tread rubber: The tread rubber is applied to the tire body, which then can consequently be reused. The manufacturing process involving vulcanizing the retread within a vulcanizing drum is called the precure method.
Reference: Image of the retread manufacturing process using the precure method
*2 Bridgestone Bandag, LLC (Bandag): Bridgestone Americas, Inc., the U.S. subsidiary of Bridgestone Corporation, completed its acquisition of Bandag on May 31st, 2007.
The combination of Bandag and the Bridgestone family of companies has enabled us to deliver enhanced levels of service and technology to our customers, while providing the same great level of quality.
The global Bridgestone Group now provides even better service to our customers by offering a comprehensive tire maintenance solution, backed by a complete line of new and retread truck tire offerings.
