When Toyo Tires celebrated the grand opening of its first tire manufacturing facility on U.S. soil in White, Ga., in December 2005, Chairman of Toyo Tire Holdings of Americas Jim Hawk credited Georgia Quick Start with saving at least six months of startup time.
“What Quick Start has done for us is phenomenal,” he said.
Phase one goals at the facility, which broke ground in 2004, included production of 1.4 million tires per year. Production quickly reached five million tires per year and eventually reached seven million tires per year.
Resources Quick Start provided to Toyo Tires included advanced technical training, as well as tools to help the company’s initial employees begin pilot production on Toyo Tires’ highly automated ATOM system in only a year. Training topics also included PLCs, servos, and variable frequency drives.
“You can’t buy what Quick Start provides,” said Don Waterhouse, director of human resources and general affairs at Toyo Tires in White, Ga. “I’ve done five new plant startups in five different states in the Southeast, and Georgia’s the only one that actually provided the resources like Quick Start does.”
Itami, Hyōgo, Japan
Open roads await. Toyo Tires brings surprise, excitement and new sensations to the world through our challenging spirit and unique, innovative ideas.
Chattahoochee Technical College
“Quick Start is what sealed the deal… In some states, they only provide grant money. I want the services. So we can focus on making tires. It worked out really, really well.”
— Jim Hawk, Chairman of Toyo Tire Holdings of Americas, Inc., and President of Toyo Tire North America Manufacturing, Inc.
A Toyo Tires technician mounts a tire for testing in the company’s technical department.
Resources Quick Start provided to Toyo Tires include advanced technical training and tools to help the company’s initial employees begin pilot production on Toyo Tires’ highly automated ATOM system.
Within three years of opening, the plant size was doubled to approximately 1.9 million square feet.
New employees had five days of orientation, four of which were for Quick Start training.
Kaneesha Brown inspects and trims a cured tire.
Toyo Tires’ facility in White, Ga., is the company’s first U.S. tire manufacturing facility.
