Bridgestone will build a new product line for radial truck tyres at its Puente Miguel plant in Spain, with an investment of 24 million euros.　　 　　The line will produce 24 inch truck tyres, which will enable the company to produce combined agricultural and truck tyre manufacturing at the same time. The investment will be used to buy new machines and invest in the infrastructure required to build a new production in order to upgrade overall plant efficiency.
　　The new line is expected to start product in 2019, although product development and qualification will take place in the second half of 2018.
　　This investment includes implementation of high technology of tyre manufacturing including robots, auto-guided vehicles, high accuracy testing and production machinery, and has a clear environment impact in terms of energy efficiency improvement.
　　This investment supplements another 35 million euros earmarked under the 2018-2021 strategic plan devised for the Puente San Miguel plant. This amount is added to another one announced last year in Burgos of 70 million euros.
　　The company will hire 40 professionals for the initial years that it will take to launch and stabilise the project, a measure that will also improve employability levels in the area of the river Besaya.
　　According to the plant manager, Kepa Hernández, “News of this kind does not only improve the expectations of the Bridgestone workforce, but also of many other local companies that are already working indirectly for Bridgestone and are involved in projects aimed at upgrading facilities and investing in actions like this”.
　　It has been estimated that daily production figures will climb to 500 tyres per day, that will be added to the current agricultural production, which with the implementation of technological improvements, will allow the plant to be run more efficiently and achieve a higher level of competitiveness in what is a very tough global market.