BYHALIA, Miss.—Cooper Tire & Rubber Co. plans to open a 1 million-sq.-ft. warehouse distribution center in Byhalia this fall to enhance its logistics infrastructure.
Cooper noted that the facility, currently under construction, will allow it to consolidate and distribute products more efficiently, delivering both directly to customers as well to its six regional distribution centers.
The warehouse offers the option to add 400,000 more square feet of space as needed, Cooper said. The site will be the company's largest distribution center in the U.S.; Cooper anticipates hiring about 100 workers there.
"This new facility will enhance our logistics infrastructure, which supports our efforts to offer exceptional service to our customers by helping us get tires to them when and where they want them," Bob Sager, Cooper's director of supply chain, said.
"This facility is a complement to our current U.S. distribution network that includes six regional distribution centers and three plant manufacturing warehouses, adding to our capability to be flexible and responsive."
Byhalia is a community of about 1,300 inhabitants in northwestern Mississippi, just 30 miles southeast of Memphis, Tenn., near the junction of Interstates 22 and 269.
As such, the new warehouse is centrally located among Cooper's U.S. tire plants in Findlay, Ohio; Texarkana, Ark.; and Tupelo, Miss.
Cooper will lease the facility.