Nokian hires Clayco as design partner for US plant

Colchester, Vermont — Nokian Tyres PLC is partnering with turnkey retail development firm Clayco Inc. to design and construct its $360 million (€290 million) tire manufacturing plant in Dayton, Tennessee.

Chicago-based Clayco will manage the manufacturing portion of the site, Nokian said, including managing all of the sub-contractors. The tendering process for the administration building on the factory site will begin in the late spring.

Tommi Heinonen, head of Nokian Tyres North America, said the move is one more step toward realising the goal of building a plant in the US.

"Since the groundbreaking ceremony in September last year, our team and the local community partners have made great progress to finish the ground work and maintain our schedules," he said.

Once constructed, the plant will produce passenger, SUV and light truck tires specifically for North American consumers and is scheduled to go on stream in 2020 with 400 employees and an eventual capacity of 4 million tires per year.

The site also will include a distribution warehouse facility with a storage capacity of approximately 600,000 tires.

Anthony Johnson, Clayco executive vice president and shareholder, said his firm is eager to begin its work on the facility.

"Our fully integrated portfolio of capabilities, services and technology allows us to provide a turnkey design-build approach that delivers precision planning and execution which keeps our projects on schedule and on budget, and enables our clients such as Nokian Tyres to reach their production goals."

Nokian said all supplier and contractor inquiries should be directed to Clayco.