This State Has The Largest Goodyear Tire Plant In All Of North America
After announcing plans for a four-year, $320 million expansion, the Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company plant in Lawton, Oklahoma is officially the company's largest. The Oklahoma site was already a major production hub for the company and its various brands, but this renovation increases capacity by nearly 30% and adds 10 million units annually. That comes out to nearly 120,000 tires per day, which is more than any other plant throughout Goodyear's global operations.
The investment comes as part of Goodyear's broader strategy to scale production of higher-margin, larger rim-diameter tires, used for electric cars. It's what the current market demands, and this bigger, better Lawton plant plays a major role in the effort to meet it. A $1 million loan from the Comanche County Industrial Development Authority has also been approved to support the project's financing as work takes place over the next several years. Goodyear officials see the investment as a long-term commitment to both innovation and the local workforce.
The Lawton plant was the company's largest even before the new expansion
Goodyear's Lawton plant first opened in 1979. Back then, it only had a workforce of 1,425 employees and the capacity to produce just 22,000 tires per day. In the decades since, the Oklahoma facility has since doubled in size to span almost one whole mile. Other recent upgrades include a $50 million investment between 2021 and 2023 that added more than 45,000 square feet of factory space.
Goodyear operates 53 manufacturing facilities across 20 countries in all. Its global headquarters is in Akron, Ohio, and its other U.S. manufacturing plants can be found in states such as North Carolina, Texas, Kansas, and Mississippi. They produce everything from consumer and commercial tires, to aircraft components and chemical materials. Still, the Lawton facility is the biggest and, arguably, the most important to the company's future. There's no official word on when the facility's upgrades will be finished, just a general timeline of about four years from the 2025 start.