GREENVILLE, S.C.—Michelin North America Inc. is opening a plant in Piedmont, S.C., dedicated to the production of its Tweel, a non-pneumatic tire/wheel assembly.
The tire maker did not disclose investment, size, employment or production capacity details at this time. The company will hold a ribbon cutting Nov. 20 for the plant, the firm's 10th in South Carolina and 16th in the U.S.
Piedmont is an unincorporated census-designated place south of Greenville in Anderson County with a population of about 5,000 inhabitants.
Greenville-based Michelin only recently disclosed its first OE fitments for the Tweel — with Deere & Co. for the John Deere ZTRAK zero-turn commercial lawn mowers, along with an expanded size range for skid steers.
The Tweel—which uses a network of elastomeric polyurethane spokes fused to a wheel hub and a circular outer flat rim to replace the casing, beads and sidewall structures as the load-bearing element—debuted at the 2005 North American International Auto Show in Detroit.