Nokian mulling next steps after ramp-up of US tire plant

Nokian, Finland – Nokian Tyres’ is mulling the next steps in the development of its Dayton, Tennessee plant, which started production about a year ago.

At full capacity, the $830 million (€730 million) unit will have capacity to produce 4 million passenger and light truck tires a year, the company stated at the March 2020 launch. 

Currently, the Finnish tire maker is ramping up production at the US facility, according to Jukka Moisio, president and CEO of Nokian Tyres. 

The Dayton operation has just started operating two shifts having hired a second shift in the latter part of 2020, Moisio told analysts in a review of Nokian’s 2020 results.

“We will also hire the third and fourth shift by the summer and therefore ramp up the factory to continue operations,” the Nokian leader added at the 9 Feb event. 

The Nokian boss expects production at the US facility to achieve a “run-rate will be about a million tires per annum.” 

“And then we'll take it from there when we go to ‘22 what additional actions need to be taken to further ramp up the factory,” commented Moisio.

Nokian has committed to doubling sales in North America throughout the five-year period from 2019-2024 period to approximately $400 million.