Magazine for the professional tire industry
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69 www.moderntiredealer.com San Luis Potosi, Mexico, in mid-2017. Giti Tire (USA) Ltd.'s manufacturing facility in Chester County, S.C., also is expected to be producing tires in 2017. Of the 59 tire plants in operation, 34 of them, or 57.6%, are non-union. Of the 62 plants in North America in 1976, nearly all of them were unionized. Forty years ago, the former Fire- stone Tire & Rubber Co. owned 11 manufacturing facilities in the U.S., more than any other tire company (Goodyear controlled seven plants, while its Kelly-Springfeld subsidiary ran four). However, that number slowly dwindled following a 140-day industry strike by the United Rubber Workers (now part of the United Steelworkers) in 1976. By 1987, Firestone was producing tires in only fve domestic plants. During a strike of Firestone workers in 1988, a union representative atempted to foster strength among union workers by crediting the '76 strike with closing six Firestone plants. The '88 strike only lasted seven days. Tat same year, Bridgestone Corp. purchased Firestone. Since 1999, Bridgestone has opened three plants in North America, two in the U.S. (both in Aiken, S.C.) and one in Mexico. None of them are unionized. Bridgestone plans to increase the capacity at its non-union Wilson, N.C., plant by 3,000 tires a day by 2018 as part of a $164 million investment. ■ Plant location/ Year constructed Non- union ISO QS Pas- senger per day: Light truck per day: Truck per day: Others per day: Total Spartanburg, S.C., 1978 x x 0.0 0.0 7.0 0.0 7.0 Starr, S.C., 2013 x 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.01 0.01 Tuscaloosa, Ala., 1945 x 23.0 7.0 0.0 0.0 30.0 Bridgewater, Nova Scotia, Canada, 1973 x x 11.0 3.0 0.0 0.0 14.0 New Glasgow, Nova Scotia, 1971 x x 2.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 2.0 Waterville, Nova Scotia, 1982 x x 0.0 0.0 0.0 5.0 5.0 Queretaro, Mexico x 6.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 6.0 Total: 158.6 32.1 7.0 5.18 202.88 Pirelli Tire North America Inc. Rome, Ga., (MIRS), 2002 x x 1.2 0.5 0.0 0.0 1.7 Guanajuato, Mexico, 2011 x 4.2 1.3 0.0 0.0 5.5 Total: 5.4 1.8 0.0 0.0 7.2 Specialty Tires of America Inc. Indiana, Pa., 1915 x 0.92 0.18 0.05 2.35 3.5 Unicoi, Tenn., 1997 x 0.3 0.5 0.05 .25 1.1 Total: 1.22 0.68 0.1 2.6 4.6 Sumitomo Rubber Noth America Inc. Buffalo, N.Y., 1923 x 3.2 2.1 2.3 5.0 12.6 Titan Tire Corp. Bryan, Ohio, 1967 x x 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.33 0.33 Des Moines, Iowa, 1943 x 0.0 0.0 0.0 11.25 11.25 Freeport, Ill., 1964 x x 0.0 0.0 0.0 8.1 8.1 Total: 0.0 0.0 0.0 19.68 19.68 Toyo Tire North America Manufacturing Inc. White, Ga., 2005 x x 8.8 8.8 0.0 0.0 17.6 Trelleborg Wheel Systems Spartanburg, S.C., 2015 x 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.03 0.03 Charles City, Iowa, 2012 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.5 0.5 Total: 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.53 0.53 Yokohama Tire Corp. West Point, Miss., 2015 x x x 0.0 0.0 1.0 0.0 1.0 Salem, Va., 1968 25.7 1.1 0.0 0.0 26.8 Total: 25.7 1.1 1.0 0.0 27.8 Grupo Carso/Euzkadi (Continental AG) San Luis Potosi, Mexico 15.0 5.0 0.0 0.0 20.0 JK Tyre & Industries (formerly CIA Hulera Tornel) Mexico City, Mexico 0.0 1.0 1.0 0.14 2.14 Tultitlan, Mexico 7.0 1.5 0.5 0.0 9.0 Tacuba, Mexico 8.0 2.5 0.0 0.0 10.5 Total: 15.0 5.0 1.5 0.14 21.64 Corporacion de Occidente SA de CV (Cooper Tire) Guadalajara, Mexico, 2005 x x x 10.0 7.2 2.8 0.0 20.0 U.S. totals: 448.63 105.08 54.0 75.98 683.69 Canadian totals: 41.3 10.2 0.0 18.0 69.5 Mexican totals: 69.2 22.9 4.3 .14 96.54 TOTAL: 559.13 138.18 58.3 94.12 849.73 Trelleborg closed its industrial tire plant in Hartville, Ohio, in 2009. Yokohama Tire Corp. is al- ready producing more tires in West Point, Miss., than it receives from its GTY joint venture with Continental Tire. Toyo took its name out of the General-Toyo-Yokohama col- laboration in 2011. Cooper Tire & Rubber Co. has a 58% stake in its joint venture plant in Guadala- jara, Mexico. In 2006, Canada produced 118,500 tires a day.