Yokohama Rubber Co. Ltd. will increase its annual passenger and light truck tire production capacity in Thailand to 2.8 million units by 2009.
The increase will come through expansion of Yokohama's consumer tire production facility at its Yokohama Tire Manufacturing (Thailand) Co. complex.
Expansion will take one year and seven billion yen of capital investment, say Yokohama officials.
Yokohama plans to make the Thai plant its "largest overseas base" for tire production. The company has been producing truck and bus tires in Thailand since April 2005. Its consumer tire plant came on-line six months ago.
For the second-term expansion of the second plant, Yokohama Rubber will employ a small-scale integrated manufacturing system that was also introduced in the first term. The system shortens the time from the beginning of plant construction to operation start-up and requires a smaller-size investment, thus enabling Yokohama Rubber to employ a flexible investment strategy taking market trends into account. The second-term construction for expansion will take one year and 7 billion yen of investment.
Established in January 2004 in Rayong Province, Yokohama Tire Manufacturing (Thailand) is a tire manufacturer/distributor. Its site area of 420,000 square meters is the largest among the tire plants of the Yokohama Rubber group around the world.
