FAYETTEVILLE, N.C.—Goodyear is planning to expand capacity for larger rim-diameter passenger tires at its 50-year-old Fayetteville plant following the approval of a 10-year jobs incentive package by the North Carolina Department of Commerce.
The incentive package, a renewal of a Job Maintenance and Capital Development grant, is valued at $30 million, Goodyear said.
These funds will be used to "modernize and improve operations and efficiency" at the Fayetteville plant, Goodyear said, including expanding capabilities to produce high-value tires with rim diameters 17 inches and greater.
"We appreciate the support of state and local officials in joining with us in strategic investments, such as this, and in recognizing the economic impact of our Fayetteville facility and its value to the community," the company said.
The Fayetteville plant is rated at 40,000 units a day with 2,900 employees, according to Rubber & Plastics News' 2018 Global Tire Report.
The JMAC Fund is a discretionary incentive program that provides sustained annual grants to businesses that meet the requirements of a major employer or a large manufacturing employer. It is intended to encourage the retention of high-paying, high-quality jobs and large-scale capital investments that will modernize processes and provide more globally competitive projects.
To make use of the grant Goodyear also must make at least $180 million in capital improvements at the site in addition to retaining jobs at the plant, according to the grant's conditions. Goodyear did not comment publicly on that aspect of the grant.
Workers at the plant represented by United Steelworkers Local 959 are working under terms of a five-year contract they approved in August 2017. The agreement expires July 29, 2022.
N.C. Commerce calculates the average annual wages associated with this project as $68,797.
This funding is in addition to $125 million Goodyear budgeted in 2016 to boost production capacity for high-value-added tires—those with rim diameters of 17 inches and greater—by 2 million units annually at plants in Lawton, Okla., and Fayetteville.