Yokohama breaks ground at Mississippi tire plant

On September 23, Yokohama Tire Manufacturing Mississippi (YTMM, which was established by Yokohama Tire Corporation, a subsidiary of Yokohama Rubber Co., Ltd.) held a groundbreaking ceremony for its truck and bus tire manufacturing plant at West Point, Mississippi. The new plant is slated to begin operations in October 2015. Yokohama plans to make an initial US$300 million investment in the facility and employ approximately 500 people in the first phase, with possible expansion down the road. The company also plans to construct a plant equipped with production, warehousing, and operations facilities on more than 500 acres of land and will produce up to one million tires annually. This will be Yokohama’s first tire plant in the United States.