Pit & Quarry, December 2014

EQUIPMENT NEWS Bridgestone brings off road radial tire production to U S Bridgestone Americas Inc opened its first giant off road radial tire plant in the United States The company marked the opening of the Bridgestone Americas Off Road Radial Tire Manufacturing Facility in Aiken County S C with a ceremony that included company representatives from around the world and state and local dignitaries The plant which spans 15 million sq ft is producing off road radial tires for the aggregates and mining industries Bridgestone initially announced plans for the facility in 2011 committing 970 million to build the plant as well as expand production capacity at its steel cord manufacturing facilities in Clarksville Tenn and Japan This plant is the biggest single investment Bridgestone has ever made A giant radial tire is inspected says Gary Garfield president and CEO of Bridgestone Americas Inc during remarks at the ceremony The tires manufactured at the Aiken County plant will serve the U S Canadian and Latin American markets says Kurt Danielson president of Bridgestone Americas U S and Canada Commercial Group The largest radial tire the company is producing from the facility measures 63 in in rim diameter Bridgestone previously imported off road radial tires from a plant in Japan This allows our customers to get the tire must faster says Danielson who estimates that it takes 30 days for a giant radial tire to be shipped from Japan to the U S The new plant is the companys second tire manufacturing plant in Aiken County The company has operated a passenger tire facility in Graniteville S C since 1998 About 350 people currently work at the new plant Bridgestone expects to create an additional 200 jobs when the new plant reaches full production in the next two to three years User Configurable Touch Screen Plant Control Customize buttons interlocks layout using simple text to fit your operation Ability to save multiple layouts for portable operations or changing needs Easy installation operation Other Related Products Weigh Scales Test Weight Assemblies Manual or Remotely Controlled Speed Sensors Belt Scale Totalizers Auto Slope Reference Sensor Ph 563 568 6387 www systemsequipment com Trimble showcases technologies at conference Trimble Navigation introduced equipment technology for the aggregates industry at its 2014 Trimble Dimensions User Conference in Las Vegas Trimbles technology stems from its June acquisition of Loadrite a payload management company The conference gave the company the opportunity to showcase its newly acquired products and recently developed operator technology as well as educate attendees about them Trimble discussed its entrance into the aggregates industry at the event Guests had the opportunity to attend a number of educational sessions browse a show floor and travel to a demo site to see the technology and equipment in action Trimble exhibited a number of aggregate equipment technologies 12 PIT QUARRY December 2014 www pitandquarry com