GUANGZHOU, China — Shandong Linglong Tire Co. Ltd. is planning two more overseas production sites, and will determine the location of one within the year, according to the company's chairman Wang Feng.
"Our Thailand factory has been operating at full capacity," Mr. Wang said at the recent China Rubber Conference held in Guangzhou. "We also plan to make the factory smarter and raise its capacity by 10 percent or 20 percent."
According to the chairman, the new expansion plan will increase the total annual production capacity of the Chinese tire maker to more than 90 million units.
Linglong's $700 million Thai plant, which has a 12 million unit per year passenger car tire capacity and 1.2 million per year truck and bus tire capacity, went into full operation in 2015.
The company also has three domestic sites, one in its headquarters city Yantai, one in nearby Dezhou and a third in Liuzhou.
Jane Ho is a correspondent with European Rubber Journal, a London-based sister publication of Tire Business.