ADDITIONAL FACILITIES OF BRISA AND BEKSA OPENED BY PRIME MINISTER ERDOĞAN
Turkey’s leader tire supplier Brisa is growing by 50 percent through a new investment of 170 million dollars. Steel cord producer Beksa, again a leader in its own region, is now increasing its capacity by 30 percent with a 30-million-dollar investment realized …n a ceremony held on September 21, 2005, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan opened additional facilities belonging to Izmit plants of Brisa, which has become one of the world’s largest tire plants under the same roof with its investments, and Beksa, which is now one of the major suppliers of
Europe.
In the opening speech he delivered at the ceremony hosted by Güler Sabancı, the Chairman of the Board of Directors of Sabancı Holding, Bülent Savaş, Brisa General Manager, said “Brisa, having the brands Bridgestone and Lassa, owns the most powerful dealer network with its 625 points of sale in total throughout the country. One out of every three tires sold in
is produced in Brisa. Lassa is sold at 3500 points abroad, primarily in European countries.” Continuing his speech by detailing goals of Brisa for the period between 2004 and 2008, Savaş stated that they were investing USD 170 million, that the covered area of the plant increased to some 300.000 square meters and that an increase by 67% would be achieved in production by piece. Savaş said “In order to achieve objectives of Brisa for the year 2008, We Are Ready with our technology, state-of-the-art machinery, manpower and business partners.”
Taking the floor after Bülent Savaş, Güler Sabancı, the Chairman of the Board of Directors of Sabancı Holding, said “Dear Prime Minister, Welcome to
Europe .” Expressing that Kentsa companies were setting a role model for
Europe with the Quality applications that had been in place since 1990s, Sabancı added that Kentsa was an example of great achievement combining different cultures. “We are going to increase our production, which has amounted to some 107.000 tons in 31 years, by 50% in two years as a result of our trust in Turkey’s future” said Sabancı and concluded by stating that the mission of Sabancı Holding is to manage a strategic portfolio that is competitive and has a potential for sustainable growth in a manner that will create value on the part of its stakeholders.
Following the closing speech of Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan in the opening ceremony, which means a lot to Brisa ve Beksa, tape cutting ceremonies of Brisa and Beksa plants were held respectively. The ceremony was closed with taking photos of all of the speakers and the employees of Brisa plant in front of “The Largest Bridgestone Tire of the World”, which weighs 5034 kg and is used in heavy construction equipment carrying 400 tons of load, and “The Largest Tire Manufactured in Turkey” with Lassa brand.
