Tokyo - Bridgestone Corporation (Bridgestone) announced that it will withdraw from conveyor belt business. Bridgestone plans to reduce its production and sales volume gradually to minimize the impact to the operations of its customers and suppliers, and will withdraw from the business completely by the end of 2024.

Bridgestone is restructuring the portfolio of its diversified products business to sharply focus on areas where it can leverage its core competencies. This is part of the overall reinforcement of portfolio management in the Mid Term Business Plan (2021-2023), announced on February 16, 2021. The Mid Term Business Plan aims to rebuild earning power through expense and cost structure reformation and enforcing premium business strategy to allow the company to enhance strategic growth investment. By executing these strategies, Bridgestone is transforming to a 'strong' Bridgestone capable of adapting to the changing business environment.

Conveyor belt business is part of the chemical and industrial products business which represents about half of the sales of the Bridgestone Group's diversified products business. The Group has both taken up and withdrawn from various diversified chemical and industrial products businesses throughout its history, responding to changes in social needs and the business environment. Without exception, Bridgestone considered and evaluated conveyor belt business thoroughly and comprehensively, including potential to leverage Bridgestone's core competencies, profitability toward the future, synergy within the Group such as contribution to the brand, before the decision was made. The key point toward the decision was that it would not be possible for its conveyor belt business to keep providing both superior social and customer value while securing profitability.

All employees associated with conveyor belt business are highly skilled and experienced, and Bridgestone is expecting most of its current employees to continue to work as members of the Bridgestone Group. Bridgestone is also working closely with local communities to minimize the impact as much as possible.

About Bridgestone Corporation:

Bridgestone is a global leader in tires and rubber building on its expertise to provide solutions for safe and sustainable mobility. Headquartered in Tokyo, the company employs approximately 140,000 people globally and conducts business in more than 150 countries and territories worldwide. Bridgestone offers a diverse product portfolio of premium tires and advanced solutions backed by innovative technologies, improving the way people around the world move, live, work and play.

(C) 2021 Electronic News Publishing, source ENP Newswire