"Last fall, Titan set 2007 sales goals at $800 million to $825 million for the year, and we still believe that is an achievable objective," says Titan International Inc. Chairman and CEO Morry Taylor. "We have already seen strong demand for January and February. If this continues, 2007 will be Titan's best year ever."
Titan is in the process of adding OTR tire manufacturing capacity at its Des Moines, Iowa, and Freeport, Ill., plants due to capacity constraints at the company's Bryan, Ohio, OTR tire plant. Equipment is being moved to Des Moines and Freeport and retooled, say Titan officials, and employees are being retrained.
"This may cause the company's gross margin to be negative for the fourth quarter of 2006 as labor costs that are normally dedicated to making products were instead used for retooling, retraining and movement of equipment."
Titan officials report that in October they determined that Freeport "has the basic equipment to produce OTR tires up to 35 inches. This means Titan can expand capacity by adding building drums and molds and implementing modifications."
Titan wants to implement these changes during the first part of 2007. The company believes that Freeport can produce more than $60 million in OTR tires this year.
