Vermont Business Magazine Nokian Tyres announced today plans to construct its first North American factory. The Finnish tire manufacturer, whose North American Sales Office is located in Colchester, will invest $360 million into the future plant, to be built in Dayton, Tennessee. Ground will break on the facility early next year with completion in 2020. Nokian has 60 employees in Vermont.
Up to 400 new jobs will be created at the Tennessee plant, in areas including quality control, logistics, shipping, manufacturing, building services and administration. In order to support this growth the North American Sales Office in Colchester will continue to expand its workforce.
The new plant will be able to produce about 4 million tires each year, with room for expansion as demand continues to grow. It will house a distribution facility and storage area for about 600,000 tires and will serve customers across the United States and Canada, focusing on all-season tires specifically designed for cars and light trucks driven on North American roads.
“In addition to increased capacity, the Dayton site’s proximity to North American customers will shorten lead and delivery times,” said Tommi Heinonen, Head of Nokian Tyres North America. “It’s our goal that the new plant will help us better serve our growing customer base throughout the U.S. and Canada by improving customer service and efficiencies.”
As for the Vermont HQ,Heinonentold VBM in an email: "We anticipate continued employment growth in our Vermont offices and warehouse to support our planned North American growth. Colchester remains our North American Sales Office and we do not foresee a change to that even with the new plant in Tennessee."
"All of our warehouses currently manage our winter tires. Colchester is our largest warehouse in North America and services everyone from small tire dealers here in Chittenden County, to customers on the West Coast, and into Canada," Dyhrman said. "Recently we opened anew warehouse outside of Montrealthat fulfills much of the Quebec market.Our logistics and supply chain team here in Colchester is always optimizing the mix of products across our six warehouses."
The location in Rhea County was chosen after the consideration of 80 potential sites. This new facility is expected to be fully operational by 2020.
“This is a significant announcement for both the state of Tennessee, as well as the city of Dayton,” said Tennessee Governor Bill Haslam. “It showcases how our state’s ideal location and strong workforce creates an environment where companies like Nokian Tyres will thrive and succeed.”
Nokian Tyres’ production plants are located in Finland and Russia. At the headquarters in Nokia, Finland, centralized product development is carried out and prototypes and test runs are completed. The Nokia factory manufactures car tyres, heavy-duty tyres, and retreading materials for truck tyres. The combined production capacity in Nokia and in Russia Vsevolozhsk is more than 20 million tires.
A part of the Nokian Tyres group, the tire chain Vianor, with Vermont locations, has over 1,500 outlets in 27 countries. In 2016, Nokian Tyres had approximately 4,400 employees and net sales of approximately $1.5 billion. (EUR 1,4 billion.)
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Source:Nokian Tyres 5.3.2017