GOODYEAR-LAWTON PLANT
LAWTON – Three top state officials joined Goodyear Tire executives Tuesday to celebrate the groundbreaking of a new $50 million expansion at the Lawton plant.
Goodyear will construct a 45,000 square-foot building that will house an advanced mixer. The new technology will enable the company to significantly improve the tire mixing capacity at the plant and allow workers to better meet the increasingly stringent performance requirements required by emerging technologies like electric and autonomous vehicles.
Site preparations for the new building began this week, a company official said.
Joining Goodyear officials were Oklahoma Secretary of Commerce Scott Mueller, Commerce Department Executive Director Brent Kisling and Oklahoma Development Finance Authority Executive Director Michael Davis.
“This investment represents a continuing step in Lawton’s multi-year masterplan – part of an important strategy to preserve the plant’s pivotal role in our manufacturing footprint,” said Lester Brooks, manufacturing director of the Lawton plant.
Later in his speech, Brooks said, “The local and state support we’ve received has been tremendous throughout our plant’s history, and we know that our success would not have been possible without it.”
Recent investments at the Lawton plant have enabled Goodyear to produce more of the high-value, larger diameter and more complex tires that consumers want and need.
As the largest employer in Comanche County, Goodyear employs approximately 2,900 people, including contractors, and has manufactured more than 700 million tires since opening 42 years ago.
Secretary Mueller praised the company and its employees for their work ethic and dedication to keeping Goodyear as a viable corporation the past four decades. He also complimented Goodyear for its continuing reinvestment in its technologies and workers.