JINGMEN/HUBEI, China — Shandong Linglong Tire Co. Ltd. has laid a ceremonial foundation stone at a site in Jingmen, Hubei Province, where Linglong is building its fourth factory in China.
The event, held July 6, was accompanied by the Linglong Tire's "global partners" conference in Jingmen, the company said.
The new plant, known as Hubei Linglong Tire, will cover a floor area of more 7.5 million square feet on a 247-acre site. Its production capacities are listed as 12 million passenger tires, 2.4 million truck/bus tires and 60,000 OTR tires.
Yantai, China-based Linglong disclosed plans for the $875 million project in March. Jingmen is a city of nearly 3 million residents in central Hubei Province. Construction is expected to take three years.
The new plant, the result of Linglong's adoption of a "5+3" strategy in 2017, is expected to generate annual sales of about $770 million, the company said.
Under its original "3+3" global industrial layout strategy, Linglong built three domestic plants, in Zhaoyuan, Dezhou and Liuzhou, along with its first overseas factory, in Chonburi, Thailand.
The 5+3 strategy called for a fourth manufacturing base in China and moves to improve the firm's international market competitiveness. Linglong added that it will "continue to promote the 5+3 global industry layout to achieve the strategic goal of developing into a world-class tire enterprise as soon as possible."
The Jingmen plant will integrate intelligent manufacturing, product lifecycle management, industrial big data application and high-end brand, Linglong added.
According to Linglong, almost 1,000 people attended the ceremony, including leaders from Chinese petrochemical industry and rubber industry.