SC’s fifth tiremaker cranks up Spartanburg factory

South Carolina is already producing more tires than any other state, and that doesn’t count the Trelleborg Wheel Systems plant that was dedicated in Spartanburg on Wednesday.

As Gov. Nikki Haley was quick to point out during a colorful ceremony marking the plant’s grand opening, Trelleborg is the fifth foreign-owned tire company to bring manufacturing to South Carolina.

The industry cluster began in 1975, when Michelin North America launched its U.S. 1 plant in southern Greenville County.

It grew over the years to include Bridgestone, Continental, Giti, and now Trelleborg, a Swedish company whose tire business is based in Italy.

Trelleborg is still ramping up production at the 150,000-square-foot plant in Spartanburg and in the process of hiring 150 workers.

The plant makes huge tires that go on heavy equipment used in farming and forestry.

Paolo Pompei, president of Trelleborg’s business unit for agriculture and forestry tires, said the industry presence that was already in South Carolina was one reason the company picked Spartanburg for the investment of about 50 million euros ($54 million).

“We consider South Carolina the Silicon Valley of the tire business,” he told The Greenville News. “If you are looking for expertise, if you are looking for people who know the business, then of course this is the state to come to.”

According to estimates by Bruce Davis, special projects reporter for Tire Business, a trade publication, eight factories in South Carolina have the capacity to make 102,000 tires per day, more than any other state.

That doesn’t count the Trelleborg plant or the Giti plant in Chester County that hasn’t opened yet.

Oklahoma is the No. 2 state for tires, with the capacity to make 88,000 tires a day, and North Carolina is No. 3, with capacity for 73,000 a day, Davis said.

This story was originally published January 27, 2016 at 5:00 PM.