Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co., which plans to move truck tire production out of its Danville, Va., plant, currently has the most TBR tire production capacity in North America.
The Danville factory, which dates back to 1966 and will continue to manufacture tires for aviation applications, can build up to 11,000 TBR tire units a day, according to the latest MTD research.
Goodyear’s other TBR tire plant, which is located in Topeka, Kan., has a daily production capacity of 5,500 medium truck tire units. It also builds OTR tires.
According to MTD's latest data, Bridgestone Americas Inc. has the second-largest TBR tire production capacity of all North American tire companies, with a total estimated ceiling of 15,200 units per day.
Production is split between two plants: LaVergne, Tenn., which can make up to 5,800 tires daily, and Warren County, Tenn., which MTD estimates has a total, daily capacity of 9,400 units.
A $550 million investment at the Warren County plant “is still on track with (its) original schedule to facilitate new technology development capabilities,” Bridgestone officials recently told MTD.
The capital infusion is expected to expand the Warren County facility by 850,000 square feet and will give Bridgestone the ability to manufacture TBR tires equipped with radio frequency identification tags.
According to MTD research, Michelin North America Inc. has a total TBR tire production capacity of 13,400 units per day.
Michelin’s plant in Spartanburg, S.C., can build 6,400 units per day at full throttle, while the company’s Waterville, Nova Scotia, plant enjoys a capacity of 7,000 tires a day.
Continental Tire the America LLC’s plant in Clinton, Miss., which began producing TBR tires in 2020, has a 2,800-unit-a-day capacity. Continental’s Mount Vernon, Ill., plant can build up to 10,300 TBR tires on a daily basis when running at full bore, according to MTD data.
Yokohama Tire Corp.’s TBR tire plant in West Point, Miss., can produce up to 3,000 units per day, according to MTD research.
In Mexico, Grupo Carso/Euzkadi (Continental AG), which operates a plant in San Luis Potosi, has a daily capacity of 3,800 medium truck tires, while Corporacion de Occidente SA de CV’s Guadalajara plant can build around 2,800 TBR tire units daily.
The latest MTD data also shows that JK Tyre & Industries, formerly CIA Hulera Tornel, enjoys a daily TBR tire production capacity of 1,500 units at its Mexico City plant.
Up and out
Hankook Tire America Corp. says it’s “currently about half-way through the construction process” at its plant in Clarksville, Tenn. “The project remains on track.”
In August 2021, Hankook announced it would invest $1.6 billion at the plant to double its passenger and light truck tire production to 11 million units, while also adding TBR tire production capabilities.
Rob Williams, Hankook Tire America Corp. president, said the addition of TBR tire production at the facility “is a vital step to our growth in the medium truck tire market.”
Two months ago, Sumitomo Rubber North America Inc. (SRNA) shuttered its consumer, TBR and motorcycle tire production facility in Buffalo, N.Y.
The plant, which SRNA had taken over from Goodyear in 2015, was one of the oldest, still-operating tire factories in the U.S., dating back to 1923.
It had the capacity to build around 2,300 TBR tires per day, according to MTD research.
