Toyo Tire & Rubber Co. is expanding its research and development capabilities at Toyo Tire North America Manufacturing Inc. (TNA) in Georgia to better position Toyo’s North American tire business.
Scheduled for completion in 2017, the expansion will include building up the product development capabilities, the resources and personnel at the existing TNA R&D department, Toyo said.
Toyo’s plan is to increase R&D staff by 1.5 times at each stage, from product planning to product design to commercialization, allowing the tiremaker to be more effective in regional product development and meet market needs, Toyo adds.
TNA was established Dec. 2005, supplies North America with tires developed in collaboration with the Tire Technical Center – the TTR R&D headquarters in Itami City, Hyogo, Japan. TTR recently developed a North America Business Development Division at its Osaka, Japan headquarters, effective Jan. 1, 2017, to promote and assist managing the North American business.
Toyo’s largest tire manufacturing facility, TNA recently completed its Phase Four plant expansion in 2016, increasing annual production capacity to 11.5 million passenger car tires. Tires at TNA are manufactured using Toyo’s highly automated and proprietary A.T.O.M. (Advanced Tire Operation Module) technology.
