Once production increases at Michelin's Lexington, S.C., earthmover tire plant go into effect and the company's Brazil earthmover tire plant is finally on-line, Michelin's total earthmover tire output will jump nearly 35%, Dave Cionek, vice president of sales and marketing, Michelin Earthmover Tires, said yesterday during a press conference at the Lexington facility.
Yesterday morning, Michelin officially announced that it will invest $85 million in the seven-year-old facility over the next five years, which will boost the factory's production capacity of large OTR tires by nearly 50%.
The Brazilian plant -- which will make OTR tires ranging from 25 to 49 inches in diameter -- is expected to be up and running within 18 months to two years.
"Right now we're on allocation," says Jim Griese, Michelin's director of mining sales, North America. "Every tire that will be produced in (Lexington) during 2006 has already been sold."
