Continental breaks ground on Sumter tyre factory expansion

Work has begun to expand Continental’s Sumter tyre factory in the USA. The company reports breaking ground on the project, and it is working to a timetable that will see plant production capacity rise from approximately four million units planned for 2016 to around eight million units by 2021. The Sumter workforce will rise in line with this capacity increase, growing from more than 700 (the plant is expected to employ around 800 by the end of this year) to some 1,600 employees. By the time this project is complete, Continental will have invested more than US$500 million into the Sumter plant.

“This announcement celebrates Continental’s trust in the Sumter facility to continue delivering quality products to our customers,” said Jochen Etzel, CEO of Continental Tire the Americas, LLC. The expansion will help meet the increasing demand for both original equipment and replacement market Continental and General brand tyres.

Continental partnered with design firm SSOE to begin the phase two expansion, and has named Kajima Building & Design Group, Inc. (KBD) general contractor of the projected nine-month construction project. An additional 720,000 square feet (66,900 square metres) will be built alongside the existing 1,000,000 square foot (92,900 square metre) plant that began production in October 2013. The phase two facility will include a new production hall and expanded warehouses for raw materials and finished goods; the finished goods warehouse will be expanded to nearly one and a half times its original size.