Clayco Starts Massive Expansion of Hankook Tire Tennessee Plant
The expansion of Hankook Tire's plant in Clarksville, Tenn., opened in 2017, doublies the firm's US footprint and adds production lines.
Rendering courtesy Clayco
Clayco is constructing an expansion of Hankook Tire's Clarksville, Tenn., plant, aiming to double the manufacturing facility with 2.2 million sq ft of new space.
In a Feb. 20 announcement, Clayco says work will include a multistory, structural-steel mixing building, as well as site enhancements, utility installations, intricate paving, deep foundations and specialized equipment pits. Also included are ASRS mat foundations, an IMP exterior, CMU-IMP interior walls and TPO roofing.
Clayco broke ground on the project in December with completion set for 2026.
The schedule is currently being coordinated with Hankook’s equipment deliveries, says Daniel Botts, Clayco project manager, and will selectively accelerate as needed to accommodate the plant startup schedule and budget.
Lamar Johnson Collaborative is supporting the project with architectural services. ICT Thomasson is performing mechanical, electrical and plumbing work, with Tucker Jones as structural engineer and TTL as civil engineer.
The project cost is confidential, according to Clayco, but an August 2022 statement from Hankook says the company board of directors approved a $1.6 billion investment to expand the plant, about 50 miles northwest of Nashville, where Hankook Tire America Corp., the South Korea-based firm's domestic unit is headquartered. The expansion brought Hankook’s total investment in the area to $2.2 billion. That investment includes a previously planned Phase 2 expansion to double the facility’s production capacity of passenger car and light truck tires, and adds a new Phase 3, which will add capacity for the company’s first production of truck and bus radial tires.
The Tennessee plant began production in 2017 and has been manufacturing more than 5.5 million tires each year.
In the August announcement, Rob Williams, Hankook senior vice president for North America sales, says the expansion is a vital step in the company’s medium truck market, set to make it one of only a few manufacturers of truck and bus radial tires in the U.S.
