Kumho Tire in Macon on target to open in early 2016

The long-awaited Kumho Tire manufacturing plant in Macon is on track to open in early 2016.

Construction of the 1-million-square-foot facility is about 90 percent complete, and production should begin in early 2016, said Jim Frentheway, Kumho’s human resources director for Georgia.

The plant, being built in the Sofkee Industrial Park, has received about 1,500 applications. The company plans to start hiring about 300 production workers beginning next month. That process will be coordinated through the Georgia Department of Labor, said Frentheway, who spoke Wednesday to the Downtown Macon Rotary Club.

The Macon plant is expected to produce 4 million tires a year for Chrysler, Kia and Hyundai. Macon is the Korean-based company’s first North American manufacturing plant. The $424 million facility will feature an automated system that builds a tire every 36 seconds.

Frentheway said the company intends to begin tire production in January, but he acknowledged it could be a few months later depending on how long it takes to install equipment.

“It’s been my experience (at other jobs) to be at 99 percent (completion), and the 1 percent could hold us up for three months,” he said.

The company already has hired 87 engineers, team leaders and maintenance personnel. In the next couple of weeks, the company will wrap up hiring the rest of the administrative staff, quality control employees and engineers. After that, all the focus will shift to filling production jobs such as material handlers and machine operators that pay about $15 per hour, Frentheway said.

The first group of production workers will need some industrial experience.

“If you’ve worked in a plant, you’ll have a pretty decent opportunity,” Frentheway said.

The plant, first announced in January 2008 and stalled after the economic recession, could grow in future years, Frentheway said.

“If sales go well and the economy continues (to improve), there will be two more phases and the potential to triple capacity,” he said.

There’s also the potential that a research and design center now in Akron, Ohio, could relocate, with Macon a possible option for the move, Frentheway said.

Stephen Adams, of the Macon-Bibb County Industrial Authority, said local officials are excited about progress at the Kumho site.

“This time last year the first members of the Kumho Tire team were getting situated into Macon-Bibb County. What started with locating temporary office space, apartment rentals and car services has turned into hiring hundreds of employees and finalizing building construction,” said Adams, the project manager and community liaison. “There is still work to be done before production begins but it is nice to look back on how far we have come.”

Adams and Frentheway said it’s been a community-wide effort to get the project to this point.

“This community has been amazingly supportive of what we’re trying to accomplish and what we’re trying to do,” Frentheway said.

Information from the Telegraph archive was used in this report. To contact writer Stanley Dunlap, call 744-4623 or find him on Twitter@stan_telegraph.

This story was originally published September 16, 2015 at 5:51 PM with the headline "Kumho Tire in Macon on target to open in early 2016 ."