Jim Pritchett will lead plant operations for Cooper Tire & Rubber Co.'s largest passenger tire manufacturing facility in the U.S. Pritchett will serve as plant manager of the tire plant in Tupelo, Miss., effective immediately. He is responsible for directing all plant operations with a focus on manufacturing excellence including safety, product quality, manufacturing, equipment reliability, efficiency, sustainability, process improvement and standardization.
The Tupelo plant has been producing tires since 1984 and has approximately 1,600 full-time workers. According to Modern Tire Dealer's 2017 Facts Issue, the plant has capacity to produce 42,000 passenger tires a day.
Pritchett has nearly three decades of experience in manufacturing. He joins Cooper after six years with AdvanSix, a resin and chemicals business that was formerly a unit of Honeywell. At AdvanSix, Pritchett’s most recent role was director and plant manager of two production facilities in Pennsylvania and Virginia. He took that position after working as plant manager and operations manager of the company’s Metropolis, Ill., nuclear fuel plant.
Prior to AdvanSix, he served as a plant manager for three facilities, and later as director of North American operations, for Jiffy International, a worldwide supplier within the horticultural industry.
Earlier in his career, Pritchett spent 17 years with Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co., where he held several technology engineering positions and was ultimately promoted to product quality manager for original equipment and replacement light truck tires.
Pritchett holds a bachelor's degree in chemical engineering from the University of Tennessee at Knoxville and a Master of Business Administration (MBA) degree from the University of Tennessee at Martin.
For more information on Cooper, visit www.coopertire.com.
