Cooper Tire opens warehouse in Mississippi

Byhalia, Mississippi – Cooper Tire & Rubber Co. has put into operation a 1 million-sq.-ft. leased warehouse in Byhalia that it said complements its existing US distribution network and "serves to enhance our logistics infrastructure."

The new facility, Cooper's largest nationwide, is located about 30 miles southeast of Memphis, Tennessee, near the intersection of Interstates 22 and 269, and will employ roughly 100. Cooper calls it "centrally located" among its US tire plants in Findlay, Ohio; Texarkana, Arkansas, and Tupelo, Mississippi.

The new facility will allow Cooper to "efficiently consolidate and distribute products" directly to customers as well as supply its regional distribution centres. The warehouse can be expanded by up to 400,000 square feet as needed in the future, Cooper said.

The new warehouse supports Cooper's efforts "to offer exceptional service to our customers as we get tires to them when and where they want them," Bob Sager, Cooper's director of supply chain, said.

Cooper's US distribution network includes six regional distribution centres, three plant manufacturing warehouses and a mixing warehouse. Among the facilities is a 400,000-sq.-ft. warehouse in San Bernardino, California, that Cooper opened in early 2018 dedicated to distributing commercial tires it imports from China and Vietnam.

Byhalia is a community of about 1,300 inhabitants in northwestern Mississippi.