TUPELO, Miss. — Cooper Tire & Rubber Co. has hired Jim Pritchett, a one-time Goodyear engineer, to manage its tire plant in Tupelo.
Mr. Pritchett, who has almost three decades of experience in manufacturing, is responsible for directing all plant operations, focusing on safety, product quality, manufacturing, equipment reliability, efficiency, sustainability, process improvement and standardization.
The Tupelo plant has been manufacturing tires since 1984 and has approximately 1,600 full-time workers. The non-union plant makes passenger and light truck tires.
Mr. Pritchett joins Cooper after six years with AdvanSix Inc., a resin and chemicals business that previously was a unit of Honeywell International Inc. At AdvanSix, Pritchett's most recent role was director and plant manager of two production facilities in Pennsylvania and Virginia.
Prior to that, he was a plant manager and operations manager of the company's nuclear fuel plant in Metropolis, Ill.
Mr. Pritchard also was the director of North American Operations, for Jiffy Products International B.V., a leading supplier within the horticultural industry.
Earlier in his career, Mr. Pritchett spent 17 years with Goodyear, from 1990 to 2007, where he held a number of technology engineering positions and was promoted to product quality manager for original equipment and replacement light truck tires, responsible for a team that worked directly with several major auto makers.
He holds a bachelor's degree in chemical engineering from the University of Tennessee at Knoxville and a master's degree from the University of Tennessee at Martin.