Celebration at Bridgestone
100 million tires.
That's a lot of tires.
That's how many tires Bridgestone has produced at its Sage Mill plant since the first tire rolled off the assembly line in August of 1998.
Bridgestone officials celebrated the milestone Tuesday with a ceremony at the plant.
100 million. That means eight zeros after the 1.
To put a little electronic perspective on just how many 100 million is: That's the number .com websites there are, the number of Twitter users, the number of apps downloaded from the Mac App Store 11 months after it opened.
The 100th million tire is a Bridgestone Dueler A/T RH-S, the company's premium light truck, SUV and CUV tires. This one won't be hitting the road though; it will be displayed proudly in the plant's lobby.
The folks at the local plant must be doing something right. The company is planning a $1.2 billion expansion at the Graniteville location. Since they'll need an additional 300 full-time workers, corporate officials must have great faith in the people here.
This plant is "arguably the most productive passenger and light truck tire plant (in the company)," said Barry Owens, vice president of manufacturing for Bridgestone Americas Tire Operations.
That's high praise, and something all of us in the community should be proud of.
Bridgestone has been a good neighbor since it first came to Aiken County in 1997. We look forward to celebrating the 200th million tire in a few years.
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