Bridgestone Americas Tire Operations (BATO) is celebrating the grand opening of its newest state-of-the-art tire distribution center in Jacksonville, Fla. The opening marks the latest step in a modernization program of the company's North America distribution center system.


With a capacity of more than a million tires ranging from small passenger and industrial tires to medium and heavy-duty commercial truck tires, the Jacksonville center will supply tires and automotive parts to Florida, Georgia, South Carolina and North Carolina. In addition, the distribution center will supply the entire United States with tires produced in Latin America, and the Eastern half of the United States with tires from Japan and other Asian countries.

"The strategic location of the Jacksonville distribution center not only provides a tactical port of entry for our products, it also gives us the ability to provide overnight delivery service to virtually all of the customers serviced from this center," said Steve Shelton, vice president, Logistics Supply Chain Management, BATO. "The people, community and location of Jacksonville were critical factors in our decision to develop a center there back in early 2007. We're very excited to call Jacksonville home."

BATO operates seven distribution centers across North America. At more than one million square feet, the Jacksonville, Fla., facility is the largest of the company's centers, boasts more than 200 dock doors and is capable of handling more than 50 trailer loads of product in and out of the facility daily. The center employs approximately 80 full-time teammates.