Yokohama Rubber Co. Ltd. recently opened a new plant in the Clark Freeport Zone in the Philippines. The plant is operated by the company’s passenger car tire manufacturing and sales subsidiary, Yokohama Tire Philippines Inc. (YTPI).
YTPI is headquartered in the Clark Freeport Zone, a special economic zone. The new plant is called the West Factory and is located in Yokohama’s Clark complex.
YTPI was established in April 1996 as a production center for tires to be exported around the world. It began production in 1998 with an annual capacity of 1.2 million tires. YTPI has since continued to expand, increasing annual capacity to 7 million tires in 2006, 10 million in 2014, and its current capacity of 11.9 million tires.
With the completion of the West Plant, YTPI plans to produce 12.5 million tires a year from 2017. Its output includes passenger car tires and SUV tires, the majority of which is exported to Europe, North America, and ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) countries for sale in the replacement market, with the remainder being shipped for use as original equipment by car makers in North America and Asian countries.
Yokohama celebrated the 20th anniversary of its Philippine subsidiary with special event. The company said the event well attended by some 230 guests, including YTPI employees, Tadanobu Nagumo, chairman and representative member of the board of Yokohama Rubber; YTPI business partners, representatives from local government agencies; Noel Manankil, president and CEO of Clark Development Corp. (CDC), which manages the Clark Freeport Zone; and CDC employees.
