Yokohama Opens First US Commercial Truck Tire Plant

Yokohama Tire Manufacturing Mississippi opened its $300 million commercial truck tire facility in West Point, Mississippi. It is the first one The Yokohama Rubber Co. has built in the United States.

The 1 million-square-foot operation on 500 acres includes manufacturing, warehousing and operations facilities, Yokohama said in a release. The plant will be capable of producing up to 1 million tires annually when running at full capacity.

The company has hired more than 260 workers and plans to reach 500, it said.

“The grand opening of our first U.S.-built plant is truly a historic day for Yokohama,” plant President Tadaharu Yamamoto said in a statement. “Thanks to Gov. Phil Bryant, the great state of Mississippi, the entire community of West Point, the Golden Triangle Region and the incredible Mississippi workforce, the plant site was developed to a fully operational state-of-the-art facility in record time.”

.@PhilBryantMS and @YokohamaTC execs Fushimi, Yamamoto and Noji show the first tire produced at the West Point plant. pic.twitter.com/A3SSAt3Vuh — mississippi.org (@mdaworks) October 5, 2015