Continental hiring for Sumter tire plant

---

About 60 jobs for industrial technicians and production workers are expected to be filled this year. Continental Tire has said it expects to create about 1,700 jobs in South Carolina, at its new Sumter plant and at its corporate headquarters in Lancaster County, by the time it starts tire production in 2014.

Pilings have been poured to support the mixing area for the tire-making materials. The mixing area will be about 15 feet below the ground surface level. The overall structure will be about 1 million square feet.

Staff Report
Published July 30, 2012

Mountains of soil have been moved, concrete has been poured and Continental Tire the Americas has begun the hiring process for the first wave of people who will work at the company’s plant on U.S. 521, southeast of Sumter.

On Friday, Continental Tire officials gave a media tour of the plant site, and an update on its work to construct the 1 million-square-foot tire manufacturing facility.

However, their primary message was that job applications are now being accepted through readySC’s website. Approximately 60 production jobs are available at the South Carolina plant.

Craig Baartman, Sumter Plant project manager, right, explains the progress on Continental Tire’s plant site, accompanied by Tom Tompkins, engineering site manager. (Photo/James T. Hammond)

Continental Tire plans to invest more than $500 million in the Sumter plant and create about 1,600 new jobs when the plant is completed and production is in full swing.

Continental has partnered with readySC and Central Carolina Technical College to assist with recruiting and training interested candidates. Industrial maintenance technician and salaried positions, such as engineering and management positions, are currently being sought. Interested candidates must submit an application online. Continental Tire will begin to accept online applications for production operator positions in late summer.

“We are making good progress on the construction of our plant,” said Craig Baartman, Sumter Plant project manager. “Now it’s time to fill some of the first of these well-paying jobs with excellent benefits.”

Continental Tire expects to create, overall, 1,700 new jobs in South Carolina in the coming years. About 80 of these new jobs are part of the expansion of Continental’s headquarters located in Lancaster County. Expansion of the complex is under way to make room for the larger corporate staff.

In the first phase of production at the Sumter plant, which is between late 2013 and early 2014, Continental will hire approximately 300 production employees. The staffing process and manufacturing training for the first 150 employees will begin in the first quarter of 2013.

Key facts about the new Sumter plant

• The construction process for the plant is expected to be finished by the end of 2013.
• Production is expected to start in late 2013 or early 2014.
• In the initial phase through 2017, more than 4 million passenger and light truck tires will be produced annually.
• In 2021, when the full production level is reached, the annual production capacity will increase to up to 8 million tires per year.
• The new site comprises 330 acres. The initial production facility will be about 1 million square feet, but land has already been cleared and leveled for expected future expansion.