Bridgestone 2004 Annual Report Download - page 7

5
Our Growth Scenario
Passenger car tires
Truck and bus tires
We are allocating investment of ¥88 billion to address the shift in demand toward high-performance
tires and tires of large rim sizes. That includes adding and converting production capacity—mainly
in Japan, Poland, South Africa, and Mexico—for those tires. The investment in Poland has included
adding production capacity for runflat tires, as will the investment in South Africa. The new plant in
Mexico—the Bridgestone Group’s third tire plant there—will be the first outside Japan to produce
tires with our revolutionary BIRD system.
Investment in expanding capacity to supply mass-market tires in emerging economies will total
about ¥49 billion. Capital spending projects in this sector have included building our third Chinese
tire plant, in the city of Wuxi in Jiangsu Province, and the second Bridgestone Group tire plant in
Brazil will begin operation in the second half of 2006 in the state of Bahia. Expansion is also under
way at plants in China, Thailand, Indonesia, and Costa Rica.
In truck and bus tires and in off-the-road tires, we are investing about ¥50 billion in expanding pro-
duction capacity. Our third tire plant in Thailand began producing truck and bus tires in Chonburi
Province in May 2004. That plant specializes in producing truck and bus tires for exporting world-
wide. Other investment projects are expanding production capacity for truck and bus tires at plants
in Japan, Spain, Brazil, and elsewhere. We are also expanding capacity at our Hofu Plant, in Japan,
which produces small and medium-sized off-the-road tires.
Previous page:
Our Poznan Plant, in Poland, is a strategic
hub in our global supply network for high-
and ultrahigh-performance tires, and we are
expanding its production capacity for those
tires. In late 2004, the Poznan Plant became
the first Bridgestone plant outside Japan to
produce runflat tires.
Right:
We began mass-producing tires with our
revolutionary BIRD manufacturing system in
January 2005 at our Hikone Plant, in Japan,
and the first BIRD system outside Japan will
go into service in the latter half of 2007 at a
new plant in Monterrey, Mexico.
Our new Wuxi Plant, in
China’s Jiangsu Province, is
the first Chinese tire plant that
we have built from the ground
up. It is our third tire plant in
China, joining two acquired
from other manufacturers.
The Wuxi Plant produces
passenger car tires for
the Chinese market and
for export markets.
2004
HIGHLIGHTS
High-performance tires produced in Europe:
increasing supply capacity in high- and
ultrahigh-performance tires is improving
our product mix while supporting sales
growth, especially in industrialized nations.