News - 2013

Tokyo (January 17, 2013)-Bridgestone Corporation today announced that its subsidiary, Bridgestone Asia Pacific PTE. Ltd. (BSAP), will establish a new technical center in Thailand. The total investment of the project is approximately ¥3.7 billion, and the technical center is expected to open in July of 2013.

Currently, the functions of tire development, tire production technology development, and quality management for operations in the Asia Pacific region are handled by the company's technical center in Japan. Once the new facility is complete, operations will be gradually shifted to the new technical center. With this shift, the Bridgestone Group intends to further enhance these functions and establish a framework for research and development that will reflect information from the markets in a more timely manner. As markets in the Asian region continue to grow and diversify rapidly, the Group believes that by strengthening its technical support in the region, it will be able to respond more quickly to customers' needs, while also enhancing the operational level in its Asian plants in terms of safety, the environment, product quality and delivery.

In keeping with the company's mission - "Serving Society with Superior Quality", the Bridgestone Group plans to increase its presence in the Asia Pacific region through enhancing research and development, expanding its sales network, and increasing tire production capacity.