First New Tire Plant in 70 Years Opens in Akron
Akron, Ohio, is in a very real way the home of tire manufacturing in North America, going back to B. F. Goodrich in 1870. Make that the former home, as by the 21st Century, a city that had once been defined by rubber manufacturing was now more famous for abandoned factories and crumbling infrastructure.
But this week, that sad trend took a step in the other direction, when Bridgestone opened its new Advanced Tire Production Center, the first new tire plant in Akron in more than 70 years. This supports other ongoing investments in the area from the company, including a new test track scheduled to open later in 2022, and more than $125 million since 2012, when the company opened it’s Bridgestone Americas Technology Center.
The Advanced Tire Production Center (ATPC) is located across the street from the Center, and is a combination of redevelopment of existing infrastructure and new construction. The $21 million project employs about 60 people and is entirely dedicated to manufacturing the 25,000 Firestone Firehawk tires required for the IndyCar series every year. Starting in 2023, the ATPC will also manufacture tires for Indy Lights.
The new Akron tire plant consumes 60% less energy than the facility it’s replacing, and Bridgestone says the company purchased carbon offsets to cover the balance of the factory’s energy use.
“The new ATPC is a reflection of both our proud history in Akron and racing while also exemplifying our company’s vision for sustainability in all aspects of our business,” said Paolo Ferrari, President and CEO, Bridgestone Americas. “For more than a century, Akron has been where our most advanced tires have been conceived, designed and built, and now we are furthering this legacy in a more sustainable production environment where the world’s best engineers, technicians and master tire builders will shape the future of tires and racing.”
After completing a degree project in automotive design, Dave wrote and photographed for almost a decade in print car magazines (remember those?), before transitioning to digital. He now subjects a series of old high-performance cars to the roads and weather in Vermont and wonders why they're always expensively broken. Please stop when you see him crawling under one on the side of the road.
More by David Traver Adolphus
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Where is the plant will the track be open to be viewed
It's all in the Firestone Boulevard/Firestone Plaza complex area in Akron. It's unlikely there will be public tours, but you can contact Bridgestone to ask at https://www.bridgestoneamericas.com/en/contact-us/write-to-us.