Nokian dedicates new warehouse at Tennessee campus

DAYTON, Tenn.—Nokian Tyres P.L.C. officially has opened its 350,000 sq.-ft. warehouse at its campus in Dayton, with the capability to hold thousands of tires made at the nearby tire factory.

The tire maker celebrated the opening with local and state leaders, construction partners and local media earlier this week.

The opening of the warehouse culminates a five-year ramp-up process at the facility, located in Southeast Tennessee. The factory employees around 500.

Nokian said it has begun to ship products from the finished warehouse in Dayton to its nine warehouses across North America, from Quebec to California, to serve dealers in the U.S. and Canada.

Nokian opened the Dayton factory in October 2019 and began commercial production in January, 2020. It expanded operations from one shift to four in 2020, added 125 employees last year.

Nokian completed a capital expansion this year to manufacture light truck tires there, increasing capacity. It also makes all-season and all-weather tires in Dayton, exclusively distributing them to North American customers.

Nokian's Dayton factory Operations Director David Korda called the opening of the warehouse the completion of a five-year growth process, expanding from 60 employees.

"We could not have reached this point without great dedication from our employees, and we are also grateful for the support we have received from the community, our customers and our colleagues around the globe," he said.

Vice President of Passenger Car Tires Lauri Halme said it the company has made North America a priority, "and the Dayton Factory is the center of thos efforts. Our growth in Southeast Tennessee allows us to serve growing demand for our all-season and all-weather tires in the United States and Canada, which complements our decades-long legacy of winter tire leadership."

Nokian has been named the Company of the Year from the Chattanooga Regional Manufacturers Association in 2021 and was the first company from Rhea County to win a Tennessee Governor's Environmental Stewardship award.

The factory has ISO 9001, 14001 and 45001 certifications for quality, sustainability and safety, respectively.

Pieper O'Brien Herr Architects designed the warehouse, which was built by BC Construction Group. AtkinsRéalis provided project management services.

Nokian is expected to open a Central European production facility in Oradea, Romania later this year, becoming the third country with a global production facility (Finland and the U.S. are the others).