Toyo Tire North America Manufacturing has been named Georgia Manufacturer of the Year.  Jim Lientz, chief operating officer for the State of Georgia, presented Toyo with the prestigious award during Georgia Manufacturing Appreciation Week in Atlanta.

The firm won in the large companycategory, which honors those with more than 500 employees.

As Toyo’s first North American tire production plant, the factory was founded in 2005 in White, Ga. The state-of-the-art facility features the company’s highly automated, proprietary Advanced Tire Operation Module production system known as ATOM.

“The ATOM system is designed for multi-product, small-lot production, allowing Toyo to quickly respond to the needs of consumers,” says Jim Hawk, North American president and CEO.

“The Toyo Tires family is honored to receive this prestigious award from the State of Georgia,” Hawk reports. “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.”

Certified as an ISO 9001:2000 company, the firm has more than 500 workers in the Peach State producing some 2 million Toyo- and Nitto-branded tires per year. Last summer, Toyo broke ground on an expansion to nearly double the size of the 900,000-square-foot facility and increase annual production capacity to 6 million tires.

For more information, visit www.toyotires.com.