Yokohama opens new OTR tyre plant; plans expansion

Tokyo -- The Yokohama Rubber Co. Ltd., has held a ceremony to officially open the second OTR (off-the road) tyre manufacturing facility at Onomichi, Japan, located in Onomichi City, Hiroshima Prefecture -- and announced that it will increase capacity.

The second plant, which Yokohama invested ¥3500 million (€22 million) in, is scheduled to begin in October 2008.

It will have capacity for 1620 tonnes per month and has been designed to manufacture middle-to small-sized radial tyres with internal diameters of 25, 33 and 35 inches, “that are strongly required around the world,” said Yokohama, in a 22 Oct statement.

Tooru Kobayashi, director and corporate officer of Yokohama Rubber said that the company will also increase production capacity at its Onomichi plant in FY2012 to reach 2.2 times that in FY2007 -- 2500 tonnes per month.

The company will “proactively continue expanding the production capacity of Onomichi plant into the future,” said the statement.

“In order to increase OTR tyre sales, Yokohama Rubber is aggressively investing in plant and equipment,” said Yokohama, in the statement.

According to the statement the company will invest around ¥5000 million in increasing the production capacity of super-large tyres by the end of this year. In addition, Yokohama also plans to expand the production capacity of middle-to large-sized tyres for large industrial vehicles, for which the company says, “Demand is remarkably increasing.”

Around 60 people attended the ceremony, which marked the beginning of full-fledged production of 25-inch tyres, the first and only tyres to be produced at the facility. Production for other tyres will not begin until 2008.

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Press release from Yokohama