Kumho Tire On The Road To Macon, Plans To Hire More Than 300

MACON, Georgia (41NBC/WMGT) — Kumho Tire, one of the world’s major tire manufacturers based in Korea, finally reached an agreement with Macon and Bibb County to start construction on a much anticipated tire manufacturing plant Thursday.

“They’ve made significant commitments to us, to the industrial authority and the industrial authority is very comfortable now with the agreement between Kumho and the community,” said Senior Vice President of Macon Economic Development Commission Pat Topping.

North America CEO and President of Kumho Tire, Harry Choi made the formal announcement at Central Georgia Technical College’s Macon campus. After initially completing site work inside the Sofkee Industrial Park in 2008, Kumho put a halt on the plans to move forward based on the state of the economy at the time. However, middle Georgia remained a home for Kumho.

Choi said, “One of the leading car manufacturers Hyundai and Kia…they had a factory near this area, we thought this would be a good chance to supply them.”

Kumho plans to build a $225 million dollar plant where they will hire more than 300 employees. According to Choi, the plant would be capable of producing around 10 million tires per year, but in the first phases they’d aim for 3 million.

Topping added, the company will need to hire tire builders, maintenance workers, and equipment operators.

Construction on the plant is expected to start at the end of 2015, but Choi said that will depend on the tire market. Hiring is expected to start for the plant in 2016.