SALEM, Va.—Yokohama Tire Manufacturing Virginia L.L.C. in Salem recently celebrated two milestones.
The facility celebrated its 25th anniversary, while producing its 80 millionth tire.
“These are two very significant achievements for Yokohama, particularly in the U.S.,” Tetsuro Murakami, YTMV president, said in a statement. “The plant helped establish our brand by providing a strategic manufacturing facility in the United States to serve both the OEM and replacement markets.
“Twenty five years later, the 80th million tire—an AVID Ascend with Yokohama's signature technology, orange oil—rolled off the line. The accomplishments are a testament to the dedication and hard work of our employees.”
YTMV also has been a part of Yokohama's environmental focus in the U.S. This year, the plant became a zero landfill operation and received the 2015 Environmental Warrior Award from the Virginia Water Environment Association. The award was part of VWEA's 2015 Industrial Waste and Pretreatment Environmental Excellence Awards Program.
YTMV has participated in the global initiative of its parent company, Yokohama Rubber Co. Ltd.'s Forever Forest. The initiative aims to plant approximately 500,000 trees around Yokohama's facilities worldwide by 2017. In 2009, YTMV became the first Yokohama plant to hold a tree-planting ceremony outside of Asia. Since then, nearly 11,000 trees have been planted at the Salem facility.
The plant has been ISO 14001 Environmental Management System-certified since 2007.