The newly formed Yokohama Tire Manufacturing Mississippi (YTMM), a manufacturing subsidiary of Yokohama Tire Corp., officially broke ground on its new commercial truck tire manufacturing plant in West Point, Miss. The plant is slated to begin operations in October 2015. The event was attended by President and Representative Director of The Yokohama Rubber Co. Ltd. Hikomitsu Noji, Yokohama executives, Mississippi Governor Phil Bryant, state officials and more than 350 guests.
Yokohama is making an initial $300 million investment in the facility and expects to create approximately 500 jobs for the first phase of the plant’s operation. The roughly 1 million sq. ft. factory, to be constructed on more than 500 acres of land, will include production, warehousing and operations facilities, and will produce up to one million tires annually. The company also recently opened its operational headquarters in the Thad Cochran Research, Technology and Economic Development Park in Starkville, Miss., which houses administrative, human resources, information management and planning functions.
