Bridgestone Corp. reportedly said on Wednesday that it was restarting production at a domestic tyre plant that had been struck by fire, adding that the incident would have only a minimal impact on its earnings.
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Reuters noted that Bridgestone had halted all work at the Amagi plant in southern Japan – the country’s biggest tyre plant – after a fire broke out on Friday in one of the rubber-mixing areas, causing injuries to six employees.
All lines at the factory, which manufactures tyres for trucks and buses, restarted on Wednesday except for the two rubber-mixing machines that were directly hit by the fire, the report said. The plant usually operates 24 hours a day and has daily output capacity of 12,000 tyres, with 90% for export.
Bridgestone reportedly said it would aim to minimise any supply shortage by using its stockpile and supplies from other factories.
It has yet to recover fully from a fire that burned for two days last September at another domestic plant and forced the closing of rubber-mixing facilities, shaving $91.13 million off Bridgestone’s 2003 pretax profit, Reuters noted.
