Craig Baartman has been named plant manager of Continental Tire the Americas LLC’s new manufacturing facility, which is under construction in Sumter, S.C.
In his new role, Baartman will be responsible for overall leadership of the facility, which is scheduled to open in late 2013, according to Jochen Etzel, Continental's CEO.
A native of South Africa, Baartman has been with Continental for 12 years. He has more than 18 years of experience in the global automotive, manufacturing and supplier industries.
Prior to his promotion, Baartman was the director of manufacturing. He also worked as an industrial engineer, area manager and production manager at Continental AG's plant in Port Elizabeth, South Africa.
Prior to joining Continental, Baartman held engineering and leadership positions with automotive suppliers in South Africa and the United Kingdom.
The new Sumter plant, which recently began accepting job applications, is bringing an estimated 1,600 new jobs to the state once it begins operations. Current job postings can be viewed at readySC.org/Conti.
For more information on the plant, check out these links:
"Continental plant construction 'officially' begins."
"New Conti plant will be 10 years in the making."
"New Continental tire plant in Sumter, S.C., will cost one half billion dollars."
