Toyo holding recruitment event for Ga. tire plant

WHITE, Ga. (June 16, 2014) — Representatives from the Georgia Department of Labor, along with officials from Toyo Tire North America Manufacturing Inc. (TNA), will be looking to bolster the tire maker's ranks at a recruiting event tomorrow as the company expands its plant in White.

The event—aimed at recruiting manufacturing and maintenance technicians for Toyo—will be held from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Tuesday, June 17 at the Bartow County College and Career Academy.

The Georgia Department of Labor (DOL) said job applicants must have a high school diploma or GED and be 18 years of age. The DOL added that manufacturing technicians “must also have at least one year of work experience and maintenance technicians must have at least two years experience with Programmable Logistic Controller (PLC) in a manufacturing environment. Military experience, any technical education or college education, and/or a Georgia Work Ready Certificate (silver or above) are all a plus.”

It said candidates could get more information on the event by emailing the Special Workforce Assistance Team (SWAT).

Late last year, the tire maker's Osaka, Japan-based parent Toyo Tire & Rubber Co. Ltd. announced it would begin a fourth expansion of production capacity at the White factory “in order to establish a supply system to meet growing tire demand in the North American market.”

As the North American base for its production of passenger vehicle and light truck tires, TNA said that in 2005, during the initial construction of the plant, the company “implemented and continues to use a highly automated and proprietary tire production system called Advanced Tire Operation Module (A.T.O.M.). This system produces highly consistent, highly uniform tires, and is designed for multi-product, small-lot production with reduced lead times.

“TNA's second stage of capacity began from 2007, the third stage from 2010, and in August 2011, the company quickly achieved the goal set forth in Toyo Tires' Mid-term Business Plan of establishing an annual production capacity of 6.5 million tires.”

The recently announced fourth stage of production capacity expansion by TNA, within the time parameters of its 2011 business plan, “will further solidify Toyo's base of operations in the North America—which the company has positioned as a strategically critical market—with a goal of meeting the market's vigorous demand for tires, and which the company believes will contribute to further growth,” the company said.

Toyo said the plan is to increase the size of the facility by 1.5 times, install equipment that will represent half of all capacity, and initially achieve an annual production capacity boost of 2.5 million tires.

Toyo Tire North America Manufacturing broke ground Dec. 6 on the first phase of the $371 million expansion of its White tire plant that will boost annual capacity nearly 40 percent by 2016.

TNA produces the Toyo- and Nitto-brand tires.