Construction of the infrastructure that will serve the Yokohama Tire plant in West Point is either done or will be done by the end of the year, while the building itself is on pace to be ready by the beginning of the second quarter of 2015.
The hiring process is moving along as well, according to Alan Easome, Yokohama senior director of new plant development.
So far, about 100 positions ranging from engineers to technicians have been filled. The other 400 positions that are expected to be available as the company prepares to launch production at the plant next October include production personnel. People can look for those positions to start opening up in January, Easome said.
“We’re in a continuous hiring process,” Easome said.
Sewer and water infrastructure, including the plant’s 1-million gallon water tank, is up and running. General contractor Kajima Associates/Architects & Engineers is about 85 percent done with the 1-million-square-foot building that will be the first phase of the plant, Easome said. This includes the majority of the building’s exterior. All that will be left to install will be lighting, plumbing and electrical work among other amenities.
“We’re still on schedule for second quarter next year for preliminary testing,” Easome said. “That would be not only the startup of select pieces of machinery but starting each machine to do its intended purpose. With testing occurring through the spring and summer, we would commence making test tires and evaluating those leading to our mass production target of October 2015.”
The 4.14-mile long road that will go to the plant, Yokohama Boulevard, is ahead of schedule, according to Keith Clark of Eutaw Construction. The contractor’s deadline for completion is Dec. 31, but Clark said based on the amount of progress made, the project should be done by mid-December. All of the paving is complete, but guard railing, rumble strips and striping are still left to do before Clark’s crew can declare the road ready.
Eutaw’s bid to do the road work was $19,465,284, but a $650,000 change order was added to build a ramp from Eshman Road to Yokohama Boulevard for the Babcock & Wilcox Company plant in West Point. This was to accommodate the company, which builds and ships boilers that are usually to tall to go under one of the bridges that was built for Yokohama Boulevard. That additional work is also slated to be done next month, Clark said.
“Sometimes (B&W’s) boilers are over 25 feet tall and it’s not enough clearance between Eshman road from the bottom of the bridge for the boilers to go under, so this ramp was added to give access for their future boiling loads,” Clark said.
Yokohama Tire has not officially committed to any of the other planned three phases but has done some site work for them, Easome said.
“As far as earth work, dirt moving, civil infrastructure, it has already taken place preliminarily to accommodate future phases,” Easome said. “As far as any decision on future phases, they’ll be announced when the timing is right. There’s been a lot of earth work that has occurred around phase 1 as far as building pads, and that’s for future phases, but that’s all that will happen at this time.”
People interested in applying for openings can do so by going to mdes.ms.gov. Easome said an email, [email protected], has been set up for people to submit questions they may have regarding employment at the plant.
Nathan Gregory covers city and county government for The Dispatch.
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