Pirelli's US plant passes 10-year milestone

Pirelli's U.S. plant passes 10-year milestone

ERJ staff report (TB)

Rome, Georgia -- Pirelli Tyre S.p.A. is marking a decade of tyre manufacturing at the Pirelli Tire North America Inc. plant in Rome with an exhibition at the Rome Area History Museum and by becoming a partner of the museum.

Since inaugurating production at the plant in August 2002, the 400,000-sq.-ft. plant has turned out more than 3 million tyres using Pirelli's proprietary Modular Integrated Robotised System (MIRS) manufacturing technology.

PTNA Chairman and CEO Paolo Ferrari called the Rome plant a “key part of our premium and original equipment strategy looking forward as it provides us the flexibility to be responsive to customer needs and produce short runs with high quality and uniformity.

“This capability is key to being able to secure prestige fitments with top level car manufacturers like BMW, Mercedes-Benz, Ford, Jeep, and Chevrolet to name a few that we serve from Rome. We've done great things here in Rome and I look forward to continuing that tradition.”

The facility, which also hosts one of five research and development centers Pirelli has around the world, employs more than 250 in corporate, production and engineering roles.

Pirelli invested $141 million initially to build the plant in Rome and has made several incremental investments in the decade since, including $12 million in 2012 to add rubber compounding capacity.

In conjunction with the anniversary, Pirelli said it plans to be active in community initiatives that are tied to education and environmental awareness, as delineated by its corporate social responsibility charter.

Angie Lewis, chairman of the Greater Rome Chamber of Commerce and president/CEO, Citizens First Bank, called Pirelli a “great asset to this community and a great partner.”

The exhibit at the Rome museum features the first tyre produced at the facility. The exhibit will become a permanent installation as Pirelli has become a Museum partner

From Tire Business (A Crain publication)

Press release from Pirelli