LIPETSK, Russia (May 31, 2012) — Yokohama Rubber Co. Ltd. (YRC) has inaugurated production at its newest plant, the $165 million passenger tire factory in Lipetsk, and disclosed plans to expand the plant.
The new plant will support Yokohama's rapid growth in Russia, which at 3 million-plus units is the firm's fourth largest single national market after Japan, the U.S. and China.
Yokohama Chairman and CEO Tadanobu Nagumo dedicated the plant this week at a ceremony attended by 200 invited guests, including Alexander Beglov, authorized representative of the president of Russian Federation; Lipetsk Gov. Oleg Korolev; Chikahito Harada, ambassador extraordinary and pPlenipotentiary from Japan to Russia; and Yokohama R.P.Z. L.L.C. President Shinichi Suzuki.
The 462,680-sq.-ft. plant is designed to make 1.4 million tires a year at start-up. Yokohama said it plans to “reinforce” the plant's production capacity in stages and is securing a 50-plus acre plot of land from the Lipetsk Special Economic Zone for xpansion.
In his speech at the ceremony, Mr. Nagumo said, “I am confident that in the future, we can contribute to the prosperity of Russia by supplying our Yokohama-branded high-quality products to the market.”
Mr. Nagumo added he was reassured upon meeting some Russian workers sent to Japan for training “how competent they were and how quick they were to learn skills.”
Yokohama R.P.Z. is an 80-20 joint venture involving Yokohama and Japanese trading company Itochu Corp.
The new plant will be making products such as C.drive2 and studded ice GUARD iG35 in 13- to 18-inch rim diameters.