Staff file photo by Erin O. Smith / Peter Chia, operations director at Nokian Tyres, talks about the Nokian Tyres plant in Dayton, Tennessee. At full capacity, the plant expects to make four million tires at the facility each year.Peter Chia says that he asked supervisors recently at the new Nokian Tyres production plant in Dayton, Tennessee, what business they’re in.
“They said ‘The tire business,”‘ said the plant’s operations director. “I said ‘Not really. You and I are in the people business. Our team members make tires.”‘
Chia said he’s installing a servant leadership culture at the new $360 million tire manufacturing factory that’s slated for an early 2020 startup.
This summer, Finland-based Nokian produced its first test tire at the Dayton plant. Plans are to make thousands more for testing and machine calibration purposes before year’s end. Annual capacity at the the company’s only American factory will be 4 million tires, with further expansion possible, according to officials.
Chia, who just finished a year at the Dayton job, said it’s key that the new plant’s leaders understand that it’s the team members “who pay my salary.”