Bridgestone Completes Technical Center for Diversified Products
18 April 2000
Bridgestone Completes Technical Center for Diversified Products; New facility Will Support Strategic Expansion in Non-Tire Markets
NASHVILLE, Tenn.--April 17, 2000--Bridgestone Corporation, the parent company of Bridgestone/Firestone Europe and Bridgestone/Firestone, Inc. in the Americas, held the completion ceremony on April 7 for a technical center for diversified products at its Yokohama Plant.The Bridgestone Chemical and Industrial Products Technical Center, as the facility is known, is an eight-story structure which stands atop 24 Bridgestone Multi-Rubber Bearings to help protect building foundations from earthquakes. Bridgestone equipped the technical center with advanced telecommunications capabilities to support vigorous interchange with the company's plants and technical centers around the world.
Although tires account for more than three-fourths of Bridgestone's sales, diversified products are a pillar of its long-term growth strategy. The Yokohama Plant is the flagship of the company's global manufacturing network for diversified products. The new technical center will strengthen Bridgestone's R&D effort greatly in non-tire markets. On hand for the completion ceremony were Nobuhiro Koike, senior vice president for diversified operations, and some 40 other executives and employees.
The technical center houses several R&D activities that have been scattered among facilities in Yokohama and elsewhere. Bringing those activities together under a common roof will raise efficiency and promote synergies among different phases of R&D.
Basic research on advanced materials will be a big emphasis at the technical center. The center also will be a venue for applications development in various product sectors.
Nashville-based Bridgestone/Firestone, Inc. is the largest subsidiary of Bridgestone Corporation of Japan, the world's largest manufacturer of tires and other rubber products. Bridgestone/Firestone develops, manufactures and markets Bridgestone, Firestone, Dayton and associate and private brand tires. The company also produces Firestone air springs, roofing materials, synthetic rubber, and industrial fibers and textiles
Bridgestone Corporation, headquartered in Tokyo, is the world's largest manufacturer of tires and other rubber products. Tires account for 79 percent of Bridgestone Group sales worldwide. The company also manufactures industrial rubber and chemical products, sporting goods, and other diversified products. It sells its tires and other products in more than 150 nations.