Macon-Bibb Mayor Lester Miller announced that Kumho Tire has approved a $21.8 million investment to add approximately 20,500 square feet to Kumho Tire of Georgia (KTG) for a new Automated Production Unit (APU) that will help boost product quality and manufacturing efficiency.

“We are thrilled about the expansion of Kumho Tire in Georgia,” said Keith Lolley, Director of Human Resources of Kumho Tire Georgia. “This is great news for our team members and the Macon-Bibb community as a whole.”

The investment, announced at the Greater Macon Chamber of Commerce’s State of the Community luncheon, will give KTG an additional capacity of 500,000 tires annually. The groundbreaking will take place in May 2021.

“I’m excited to see Kumho’s progress and growth now and in the future; they recognize what a great place our community is to do business and be located,” says Mayor Lester Miller. “Focusing on the economic development of our community means both attracting new industries and supporting those that are already here, and we were able to celebrate existing industries twice this week. It’s a great day and a great week in Macon-Bibb County.”

Kumho also approved a $305 million expansion to the Vietnam plant. This expansion is expected to double the plant’s capacity. The investment in KTG, as well as in the Vietnam plant, is part of Kumho’s strategy to increase production capacity.

Kumho Tire President and CEO, II Taik Jung said that “as a company, we are heading in a very positive direction and part of our strategy is to increase our production capacity ahead of the growing demand in order to ensure product availability for our customers and support continued growth partnerships in the North American market.”

The Macon-Bibb County Industrial Authority brought Kumho Tire’s first North American manufacturing facility to Macon-Bibb County in May 2016. This facility was a $600 million dollar investment at approximately 1,000,000 square feet and generated over 400 new jobs.