Billy Taylor, plant manager of Goodyear’s Fayetteville, N.C., manufacturing facility, has been promoted to director of commercial tire manufacturing for the company’s North American Tire division, effective June 1.

Based out of the tiremaker’s Akron, Ohio, headquarters, Taylor will oversee operations at four commercial tire manufacturing plants in Buffalo, N.Y.; Danville, Va.; Social Circle, Ga.; and Topeka, Kan.

Taylor, who has been plant manager in Fayetteville since June 2010, is credited with upping production there by 24% – about 7,000 tires a day – in his first six months, without increasing costs.

While in Fayetteville, he was a speaker at various nonprofit events and currently serves as chairman of the United Way of Cumberland County’s board of directors. He also has coached rec league football and basketball.