Bridgestone Begins Construction on $75 Million Tire Cord Plant Expansion in Tennessee

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Researched by Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)--After more than a year's delay, Bridgestone Metalpha USA Incorporated (BMU) (Clarksville, Tennessee), a subsidiary of Bridgestone Americas Holdings Incorporated (TYO:5108) (Kyobashi, Tokyo, Japan), has begun construction on a $75 million expansion of its tire cord-manufacturing plant in Clarksville, Tennessee. Bridgestone Americas is one of the world's largest producers of steel cord that is used as reinforcement in radial tires.

Since starting operations in 1995, BMU has been continuously expanding the now 815,000-square-foot manufacturing plant, which also serves as the company's U.S. corporate headquarters. In 2011, Bridgestone's parent company in Japan started looking to increase the production capacity at one of its international facilities. The $75 million expansion is part of the company's comprehensive investment in its U.S. manufacturing operations. With the help of the Montgomery County government, which is providing relocation credits to offset some of the impeding costs, the company was able to relocate utilities and infrastructure to expand the Clarksville plant.

The one-year delay was attributed to the relocation of some existing power lines. BMU's plans were to expand the existing plant by constructing a 123,077-square-foot building addition, which will allow the company to increase daily output 10% to supply the steel cord used in tires that will be produced at the new off-road radial plant in Aiken County, South Carolina.

In the summer of 2012, BMU selected Gresham Smith & Partners (Nashville, Tennessee) to perform designs for the expansion. Earlier this year, BMU selected Wieland-Davco Corporation (Lansing, Michigan) to provide general construction services and Nashville Machine Company (Nashville) to provide mechanical services. Groundbreaking for the expansion occurred in February 2014. Building construction is well under way, with overall construction completion slated for the fall of 2014 and equipment installations continuing until the fourth quarter of 2015. Approximately 47 jobs are expected to be created.

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