Yokohama Tire Corp. broke ground on a medium truck tire manufacturing plant in West Point, Miss., on Sept. 23. The facility is the first manufacturing plant the tiremaker has built from the ground up in the U.S.
Hikomitsu Noji, president and CEO of YTC, joked the event was like a “wedding” in the partnership between Mississippi and Yokohama. He said it would be followed by a “honeymoon,” with the “baby” coming in just 25 months – the radial tire plant is expected to roll out its first production tires in October 2015. 
“We can’t say enough to let you know how much this new plant means to us,” Noji said. “Our industry is positioned for solid growth in the future and we had to be ready fast. We can no longer wait and continue sitting on the sidelines not having our own manufacturing facility in the U.S.”
More than 350 were in attendance at the groundbreaking event, including local, state and federal officials as well as Yokohama executives.
The new manufacturing plant will be located within the state’s golden triangle region – an area in northern Mississippi encompassing, Columbus, Starkville and West Point. The site was chosen for a variety of reasons, including its proximity to ports, the availably of resources, the local workforce and the site’s condition, said Alan Easome, senior director of new plant development for YTC.
Overseeing the most aggressive construction timetable for a Yokohama plant ever will be Tadaharu Yamamoto, president of the newly formed Yokohama Tire Manufacturing Mississippi. YTMM will be the entity responsible not only for overseeing construction, but for operations at the plant. During construction, YTMM will have its operational headquarters in the Thad Cochran Research, Technology and Economic Development Park in nearby Starkville, Miss.
“This is the first time we build up from a greenfield… it’s a big challenge for the Yokohama Group,” Yamamoto said.
The company has taken what it’s learned from other plants worldwide and applied that knowledge to the new location. Once it’s completed, the Mississippi plant will be one of the most modern plants in the company, as well as the tiremaker’s most automated plant, he said. The plant’s automation and technology should increase the efficiency fourfold compared with conventional plants.
With approximately 570 acres of land, the first phase of Yokohama’s overall plan for the site includes a $300 million investment. The roughly 1-million-square-foot factory will include production, warehousing and operations facilities. In addition, the site will be able to produce more than one million tires annually and create 500 new jobs.
If the tiremaker continues with future potential phases – up to four build outs – the plant’s capacity could quadruple, with Yokohama investing more than $1 billion and adding additional jobs.
A general contractor will be named in the fourth quarter of this year, with construction commencing soon after, Easome said. The company plans to have the main building substantially completed by the third quarter of 2014 and installation of equipment beginning the early second half of 2014. Additional equipment will arrive throughout 2014 and early 2015, as well. Machine testing and test production will start in early 2015, with mass commercial production beginning in 2015, Easome said.
“With an aggressive time table for this facility, it’s a lot of work by a lot of teams to get there and stay on schedule,” he said.
During interviews prior to the groundbreaking, Yokohama execs said the tiremaker plans to continue its partnership in GTY Tire Co. and tires from the new plant will supplement its current U.S. produced medium truck tire supply.
“We need more production capacity,” Noji said. “The U.S. market is still growing. Of the advanced countries, only the U.S. is growing. We need more tires.”
Takayuki Hamaya, YTC COO, agrees with Noji. While medium truck radial tire sales are not where there were in 2007, Hamaya said he believes there will be a steady growth in the coming years.
“There are several indicators that are on the positive side,” he said. “New house sales are starting to pick up, new passenger car sales are increasing, with new vehicles, the trucking industry has a huge impact from delivering parts to the manufacturer to delivering completed products to distributors. Everything seems to be going in the right direction.”
Noji and Hamaya said they are not satisfied with Yokohama’s truck tire position globally or within the U.S., and the new plant should help with that.
“I think globally we have to increase our marketshare everywhere, but seeing the current market condition, I think that the U.S. has the highest possibility that we can grow the business,” Hamaya said.
Having additional supplies, provided by the new facility, will allow Yokohama to take advantage of its current market opportunities, the executives said.
Right now the plant is set to only produce medium truck tires, but in the future there is a possibility it could produce consumer tires, as well. “If we’re running good, and demand is growing, and we need more tires, why not?” said Noji.
Currently, most of Yokohama’s medium truck tire needs are serviced by Yokohama Rubber Co. plants in Japan and Thailand, as well as stateside through its joint venture GTY Tire Co. at Continental Tire the America’s plant in Mt. Vernon, Ill.
YTC owns and operates one other U.S. plant, a passenger/light truck tire facility located in Salem, Va., which it acquired as part of its purchase of the former Mohawk Tire Co.
Having a truck tire plant stateside offers several advantages, including cost reduction and quicker response time for customers, said Hamaya.
“If you are out of stock or low on one SKU, we have to produce the tires offshore and then bring them to the U.S. and it takes like two months,” Hamaya said. “If the customer is urgently asking for some specific size we can immediately put that into production next week and get it to the customer.”
The groundbreaking weekend also included YTMM giving back to its newest neighbors, donating $500,000 to two local universities. Mississippi State University and East Mississippi Community College will each receive $250,000 from the tiremaker, it was announced the evening before the groundbreaking.
