Continental Tire Chooses Walbridge/Mashburn as General Contractor for South Carolina Plant

The American division of Continental Tires, Continental Tire the Americas (CTA) has chosen Walbridge/Mashburn based in South Carolina and Michigan as the general contractor for its upcoming plant in Sumter South Carolina.

The manufacturing facility will specialise in light truck and passenger tires in order to meet the increasing demand from automotive manufacturers. Construction of the plant is likely to be completed by the end of 2013 and full scale production is expected to commence by 2014.

When full production is reached, the plant is expected to have an annual capacity of eight million tires. The construction will be spread into two phases. The first phase of the plant is aimed at an annual production capacity of four million units by the year 2017. Full production will be attained during the second phase. CTA will invest more than $400 million in the plant. Construction of this plant is expected to create 1,600 new jobs. Initial round of hiring has already begun through the recruitment of 60 employees. The company will hire 300 more new employees during the first phase. With this plant, CTA has made a total investment of $1 billion in product development and manufacturing in the US, Ecuador, Brasil and Mexico since 2006. The company is also spreading its presence in Europe, China and Russia.