DAYTON, Tenn. – Nokian Tyres employee Bonnie Houle says that a six-week trip to the company’s Russian tire production plant earlier this year “changed everything” for her.
“The trainer had a saying: ‘Catch the moment,'” she said. “Little did I know that would embody everything about the training and training process.”
After nearly two years of construction, the Finland-based tire maker building a $360 million manufacturing plant in Dayton is nearing the start of commercial production.
In the first quarter of next year, the 830,00-square-foot plant off U.S. Highway 27 will start churning out car and pickup truck tires to the tune of 4 million a year when it reaches full production.
Houle and about 50 others of the Dayton plant’s launch team went to Russia and Finland for about a month and a half to learn how to run what Nokian says will be one of the most advanced tire factories in the world.