South Korean tyre company Hankook has officially opened its seventh global plant in Indonesia. Located in Lippo Cikarang, Bekasi, West Java, the company’s newest plant will act as an export base for the US and Middle East markets as well as a regional business hub for the emerging Asian market, with production capacity up to 6 million tyres/year.
Hankook says it new tyre plant will be a major growth factor contributing to the company’s continued global business expansion, with around 30% of the output for the Indonesian domestic market, while the remaining 70% will be exported to serve the demands of emerging markets across the globe including ASEAN region, North America and Middle East.
Covering an area of 60 ha, the plant is said to be a modern manufacturing facility equipped to produce mainly passenger car tyres, Ultra-High Performance (UHP) tyres, and light truck tyres.
“Today’s commemoration of the Indonesia plant opening marks yet another milestone in Hankook Tire’s ongoing growth as a global top-tier tyre company. This is also a clear manifestation of our strong will and commitment for further growth together with Indonesia and other emerging economies,” said Seung Hwa Suh, Vice Chairman/CEO. He also added, “As a leading global tyre company, we will continue our relentless efforts to supply customers around the world with more advanced, globally acclaimed tyres via our new export base in Indonesia.”
The company currently employs approximately 1,400 staff members and will increase this to a total of 4300 employees by 2018.
Hankook also has established its end-to-end distribution channel, called Hankook Masters. In Indonesia, it has already established its Hankook Masters outlets in Surabaya and Bandung, targeting to increase the number to 30 outlets by the end of this year. In Australia, the Hankook Masters programme was launched successfully in 2011 and now boasts a network of 140 Hankook Masters dealers nationwide.