Nokian Tyres has added a fourth production shift at its North American factory in Dayton, and is now producing tires around the clock at the state-of-the-art facility it opened in 2019.
 
The production milestone coincides with another major achievement at the Dayton Factory: ISO 14001 certification, which validates Nokian Tyres’ strict environmental standards at the facility, officials said. 
 
“ISO 14001 certification is another testament to the fact that we are one of the most sustainable tire manufacturers in the world,” said Dayton Factory Environmental, Health and Safety Manager Darren Bakkestuen. “It’s pretty rare that we got through the assessment without any major findings.”
 
The Dayton Factory’s production building holds LEED v4 Silver certification, the only tire production facility in the world to achieve that mark, and its solar-powered administration building is LEED v4 Gold. Earlier this month, Nokian Tyres won the Tennessee Governor’s Environmental Stewardship Award for Sustainable Performance for its environmental efforts in Dayton.
 
Nokian Tyres began producing tires 24/7 at its Southeast Tennessee campus on July 12. The global tiremaker has hired nearly 150 team members since the start of 2021 and added a third production shift in mid-May. The creation of a fourth shift is in line with Nokian Tyres’ long-term ramp-up plans at the factory, where it plans to make as many as four million tires annually and employ up to 400 workers once the facility reaches full capacity.
 
“Adding third and fourth production shifts allows us to keep pace with production goals that will help us grow our presence in North America,” said Dayton Factory Operations Director David Korda. “We’re pleased with the quantity and quality of workers we’ve added this year, and we’re eager to help them thrive as our company grows.”
 
Nokian Tyres started production at the Dayton Factory in January 2020 to serve rising demand for its products in the North American market. It crafts all-season and all-weather tires at the facility in line with its core values of safety and sustainability. All three of Nokian Tyres’ global factories hold ISO 14001 certification. 
 
Nokian Tyres aims to use the factory to reduce delivery lead times to North American customers and build tires tailored to the needs of drivers in the region, such as the Nokian Tyres One, an all-season passenger tire it launched in North America in January.