Toyo Expands U.S. Tire Factory 35%

Toyo Tire North America Manufacturing Inc. has begun construction of a 700,000 sq-ft addition to its 2 million-sq-ft tire plant in White, Ga.

Toyo says it will spend $371 million on the facility, including a 323,000 sq-ft expansion of warehousing operations at the site, over the next four years.

The project will hike annual capacity at the facility to 6 million tires by mid-2016 from 4.7 million tires currently. Toyo says the plant produced its 20 millionth tire in November.

The factory opened in 2004 and has undergone three expansions since then. Employment there jumped from 81 initially to more than 1,000 today. Toyo says the new addition will create another 650 jobs.