Tire manufacturers are again starting to ramp up production at their North American plants, many of which have been shuttered since March.
Bridgestone Americas Inc. restarted production at its two U.S. commercial truck tire plants – a facility in LaVergne, Tenn., and another in Warren County, Tenn. – the week of April 13. Combined, the plants have a maximum capacity of 15,200 units per day, according to MTD research.
The company's other commercial tire plants in Aiken County, S.C.; Bloomington, Ill.; and Des Moines, Iowa, also have reopened. Bridgestone’s consumer tire plants in North America are scheduled to reopen in May.
Hankook Tire America Corp.’s consumer tire plant in Clarksville, Tenn., resumed production on April 20 after a three-week freeze. At full capacity, the factory can build 13,900 units per day.
Production at Yokohama Tire Corp.’s commercial truck tire plant in West Point, Miss., is scheduled to restart on April 27. It can manufacture up to 3,000 units per day at full throttle, according to MTD data.
Yokohama’s consumer tire plant in Salem, Va., remains closed.
This week also will mark the reopening of Cooper Tire & Rubber Co.’s U.S.-based consumer tire plants, which, together, have the capacity to make 97,000 units a day. The factories are in Findlay, Ohio; Clarksdale and Tupelo, Miss.; and Texarkana, Ark.
This past Friday, Nokian Tyres plc announced it will restart production at its plant in Dayton, Tennessee, on May 4. The plant, which opened last year, can build up to 2,800 units at top capacity, according to MTD research.
Not all plants have resumed production. A recent public filing from Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. disclosed that the Akron, Ohio-based tiremaker had reached an agreement on March 17 to permanently close its consumer tire plant in Gadsden, Ala.
Local media outlets reported that the factory, which dates back to 1928 and is the oldest in Goodyear’s system, continues to produce 2,000 units per day – far below its maximum daily capacity of 26,000 consumer tires.
Goodyear’s consumer and commercial tire plants in North America – plus its three-year-old factory in Mexico – remain shuttered. (The company announced on April 2 that those facilities would be on indefinite shutdown.)
Here’s the latest on other manufacturers’ North American plants:
Continental Tire the Americas LLC’s plants in Sumter, S.C., and Mount Vernon, Ill., which, together, can produce 57,800 consumer and truck tires per day at full capacity, remain closed.
Giti Tire (USA) Ltd. said it would suspend production at its plant in Richburg, S.C., for two weeks, starting on April. On April 17, Giti announced that the shutdown would extend through May 4.
Kumho Tire Co. Inc.’s plant in Macon, Ga., shut down on early-April but is expected to reopen at the beginning of May.
Michelin North America Inc. shut down an unspecified number of plants in the U.S and Canada on March 20. They remain closed as of press time.
Pirelli Tire North America Inc. is eyeing a possible restart at its plant in Rome, Ga., towards the end of April and will continue to monitor conditions. The heavily automated facility can produce 1,700 passenger tires per day at maximum capacity, according to MTD data.
Sumitomo Rubber North America shut down its consumer and commercial truck tire plant outside of Buffalo, N.Y., on April 23 but plans to restart the facility on May 4. The plant has a combined production capacity of 17,300 units per day.
Titan International Inc. announced on March 23 that its U.S. plants – which are located in Bryan, Ohio; Des Moines, Iowa; and Freeport, Ill. – would stay open to “support the food and agriculture industry.”
Toyo Tire U.S.A. Corp. announced production suspension at its consumer tire plant in White, Georgia on March 30. Originally, the plant was scheduled to reopen on April 19 but it remains shut down, Toyo President and CEO Roy Bromfield told MTD in an exclusive interview last week. The plant can build 46,500 consumer tires per day at full bore.
Stay tuned to www.moderntiredealer.com for more updates.
