Nokian Tyres is investing approximately US$174 million to double tyre capacity at its factory in the USA and to expand warehousing capabilities at the Dayton, Tennessee site. This project will lead to the creation of 75 new jobs at the Dayton facility this year, and the expansion will also enable Nokian to add light truck tyres to the plant’s product mix in 2023.
Bridgestone Americas will invest an additional $190 million to renovate and expand its Costa Rican tyre manufacturing operations. The newly announced funds extend the existing plan to invest $60 million in Belén de Heredia by 2026. Bridgestone will increase its production capacity by 36 per cent, adding more than 160 new permanent jobs.
Construction work to expand the Sumitomo Rubber USA plant in Tonawanda, New York is progressing following the official groundbreaking at the site on 29 March, and in the coming two to three years the tyre maker will invest US$129 million in a project that will boost production capacity by 50 per cent. After erecting a 5,100 square metre plant building this summer, Sumitomo will install new mixing machines, tyre presses and tyre building machines. Plant manager Tim Sprunger says the expanded facility will feature a high level of automation.
Phase 2 of a US$100 million production capacity upgrade at the GRI specialty tyre factory in Sri Lanka is now complete, and GRI reports being in a position to increase capacity by almost 100 per cent from the present level, up to a daily output of 60 tonnes. This elevated capacity will satisfy the increased demand for farm tyres that GRI has enjoyed since launching agricultural ranges across key markets such as Europe, the USA and Australia in 2018.
On 11 January 2021 Jiangsu Province Department of Commerce approved Jiangsu General Science Technology Co. Ltd’s (GS Tire) US$300 million investment in a new tyre factory in Cambodia. Company stock market filings had previously described that factory as a $204 million investment, which suggests the scope of the project has increased significantly.
On 27 June, Sailun Group officially inaugurated the modernised former Anchi Tyres facility in Weifang, Shandong Province. Group subsidiary Sailun (Weifang) Tire Co., Ltd. invested RMB 719.9 million (£81.3 million) to upgrade production at the acquired plant and implemented its improvements within a timeframe of just six months.
Ceat Limited commissioned the second phase of its Nagpur plant in India’s Maharashtra state on Monday. The tyre maker says the two-wheeler tyre capacity added by this expansion project will be “be ramped up over a period of time, based on market demand and our overall capacities.”
Almost 18 months ago, Bridgestone announced it would invest at least 160 million euros in its passenger car tyre plant in Poznań, Poland. A stage in this factory expansion project began on 20 January with the laying of a foundation stone for additional production buildings.
News reports from Hungary suggest Hankook Tire has put on hold plans to set up a truck tyre production unit at its Rácalmás plant. English-language publication the Budapest Business Journal writes that fellow business daily Világgazdaság shared this news with its readers yesterday.
Production capacity for truck and bus radials at Bridgestone’s Warren County factory in Tennessee, USA will increase as part of a three-year, US$40 million investment to “meet market demand and address emerging customer needs.” Bridgestone Americas says it will break ground on expansion work at the 28-year old plant before the end of this year.
A new, fully automated warehouse is to be built at the Bridgestone manufacturing facility in Joliette, Canada. Bridgestone Canada Inc. is investing CA$56 million (£32.8 million) in the project, which will give it a maximum storage capacity of 500,000 car and light commercial vehicle tyres once the facility opens in early 2020.
With an investment of approximately 290 million euros, Hankook Tire is adding a truck tyre production unit to its factory in Rácalmás, Hungary. Work on this expansion project – the fourth since the plant opened in 2007 – will begin in June, with production expected to commence in June 2020. The truck tyre production unit will have the capacity to make 550,000 tyres a year, and its opening will create around 150 new jobs.
With new factories in Europe and now also the US Nexen Tire is growing in terms of global production capacity. However, the firm is also investing in developing its brand, especially in terms of football sponsorship. Recently Tyres & Accessories looked into how the company is combining the two in order to meet its goal of entering the global top 10 by 2025.
In 1976 Kettering Tyres paid local football club Kettering Town FC to print its logo on the front of the team shirt. The move caused ructions in what was then known as the first division and didn’t last long, but it did set a precedent for sponsorship that went to the next level this year. 41 years later, shirt sponsorship in the English Premier League (called Football League First Division back then), which brought in £226.5 million in sponsor revenues during the 2016-17 season, is very big business.
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GS Tire