Nokian Tyres has opened its new North American headquarters office in Nashville, Tennessee.
The company inhabits a newly remodeled space with a flexible, open-concept work environment where it expects to house 30 employees.
The global tire company based in Finland recently announced a plan to double North American sales over the next five years. The Nashville headquarters and a new factory two hours away in Dayton, Tennessee, will serve as the bases for that mission. Many Nokian Tyres employees chose to move to Nashville from the company’s previous headquarters in Colchester, Vermont, while some workers will remain in Vermont.
“We are enjoying our new home and have received a warm welcome here,” said Mark Earl, senior vice president, Americas. “We are pleased to be a member of the Nashville and Tennessee business communities, and we look forward to deepening relationships here and continuing our successful growth.”
Nokian Tyres’ Nashville office is located downtown at 501 Union Street. The location will house Earl and members of the company’s sales, customer service, IT, logistics, finance and marketing teams, as well as new positions that will come online as the company grows. Nokian Tyres has a history in the area; it based its North American operations in nearby La Vergne until 2009, when it moved to Vermont.
The wide-open workspace fosters collaboration and allows employees to work where they feel most comfortable, from couches and tables to ergonomic, adjustable-height desks. The Scandinavian company emphasizes employee health at each of its offices and factories around the globe.
The opening of the Nashville office coincides with ongoing construction of the company’s first United States factory in Dayton, Tennessee, which remains on schedule to open in 2020. The $360 million Dayton factory will produce around four million tires per year and employ approximately 400 workers. The site will also house a distribution facility with a storage capacity of 600,000 tires. Construction began earlier this year, and the company plans to begin hiring workers in the first quarter of 2019.
“The Dayton factory is a vital element of our growth strategy, and we continue to make satisfying progress on its construction,” Earl said. “By crafting premium tires in the heart of East Tennessee and planting roots in Middle Tennessee, we aim to contribute to both communities while helping our company thrive.”
