The Yokohama plant is nearing completion in West Point.
The $300 million commercial tire plant is on pace to begin rolling out tires in October, according to the company.
Yokohama Tire Manufacturing Mississippi announced Wednesday that approximately 170 people have been hired to work at the plant. Yokohama Boulevard, $20 million, four-mile stretch of road that will be a major thoroughfare to and from the site, is open. And some equipment has been installed in the 1 million square foot factory.
The project broke ground in September 2013.
“We’ve come a long way,” Alan Easome, the senior director of new plant development with Yokohama Corporation of North America, said. “We outlined an aggressive plan to have a plant come on line in under 24 months, and now we are that much closer to serving our customers with expanded production capacity right here in the U.S.”
By the end of the year, nearly 300 of the slated 500 positions will have been filled, according to the company.
The entire facility is being constructed on 500 acres and, in addition to production, the site will serve as a warehouse.
Yokohama says it will produce up to 1 million tires a year in West Point.
William Browning was managing editor for The Dispatch until June 2016.
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