ATLANTA- Toyo Tire North America Manufacturing Inc. (TNA) was recently named Georgia Manufacturer of the Year. The award was received in the large company category, which honors those with more than 500 employees.  Jim Lientz, chief operating officer for the State of Georgia, presented Toyo Tires with this prestigious award during the Georgia Manufacturing Appreciation Week in Atlanta.

The first North American manufacturing plant for Toyo Tires, TNA was founded in 2005 in the city of White, Georgia.  This state-of-the-art facility features the company's highly automated, proprietary Advanced Tire Operation Module production system, or ATOM. The ATOM system is designed for multi-product, small-lot production, allowing Toyo Tires to quickly respond to the needs of consumers.

"The Toyo Tires family is honored to receive this prestigious award from the State of Georgia," said Jim Hawk, president and CEO, Toyo Tire North America Manufacturing, Inc.  "This honor, as Manufacturer of the Year, reflects the hard work and dedication of every employee here at the facility.  As an organization, we are committed to producing quality tires for North America and to being an excellent corporate partner in White, Bartow County and the state of Georgia."

TNA, an ISO 9001:2000 certified company, employs more than 500 team members in the State of Georgia and produces approximately two million Toyo and Nitto brand tires a year. Last summer, Toyo Tires broke ground on an expansion to nearly double the size of the 900,000-square-foot facility and increase annual production capacity to six million tires.