WEST POINT, Miss. (Oct. 5, 2015) — Yokohama Tire Manufacturing Mississippi (YTMM) held the grand opening today for its $300 million commercial tire plant in West Point with more than 300 dignitaries and guests in attendance.
The 1 million-sq.-ft. plant, Yokohama's largest in the U.S., is expected to reach full capacity of 1 million truck and bus tires annually by year-end 2018.
The factory will mainly produce 22.5- and 24.5-inch truck tires for the North American market. The tire maker, which broke ground on the greenfield plant two years ago, said the facility shows its OEM customers that “Yokohama is committed to this marketplace.”
What the project means to the company's tire dealer customers is that “the tires they need will literally be a call away,” Takahuru Fushimi, CEO of Yokohama Corp. of North America — an entity that oversees all Yokohama-related operations in North America — told journalists during a press conference.