Georgia tyre plant plans USD22M expansion to boost production

A tyre plant will spend USD21.8 million to expand production in middle Georgia.

Kumho Tyre and Macon-Bibb Mayor Lester Miller announced the expansion on Thursday.

The plant, which opened with a capacity of about four million tyres a year, will be able to make another 500,000 tyres a year.

Local news outlets report a groundbreaking is supposed to be held in May for the 1,850 square-metre expansion. The original USD600 million plant opened in May 2016, hiring 400 people.

The plant will include a new automated production unit, a proprietary Kumho system that’s supposed to help boost efficiency.

Seoul-based Kumho is the world’s 18th largest tyre maker, operating a total of eight tyre plants in China, South Korea, Vietnam and the United States.

The Macon plant is the company’s first American manufacturing facility. Since the Macon plant opened, China’s Quingdao Doublestar Group acquired a controlling interest in Kumho Tyre, in part due to the financial distress of the former Korean parent.

The Macon plant makes tyres 17 inches or larger for passenger vehicles.

Miller did not note any incentives that government will give to the project.