Fairfax tire plant creating 1,000 new jobs
Published in the March 15 edition of The People Sentinel. Front, 6A.
Governor Henry McMaster and Chairman & CEO of Tin Thanh Group Tran Dinh Quyen celebrate the new tire manufacturing facility in Allendale County.
A Vietnamese tire manufacturing company is bringing 1,000 jobs and one million tires to Allendale County.
Tin Thanh Group is the first Vietnamese industry to be established in South Carolina, and Allendale County is the first U.S. location for Tin Thanh Group operations.
“Tin Thanh Group will operate a world-class, state-of-the-art, tire returning facility that will eventually produce over 1 million tires here in Allendale County,” said Keith Sernick, counsel to the Tin Thanh Group and economic development specialist. “We anticipate hiring, within five years, over 1,000 well paying jobs right on this land.”
Tin Thanh Group is a corporation aiming to provide sustainable energy from reusable sources that emit a lower carbon emission level for a cleaner environment.
“It’s life changing, this doesn't happen everyday in Allendale, this doesn't happen everyday anywhere,” said Senator Brad Hutto. “This is going to be a great opportunity for all the citizens in the area to prosper.”
The group has many fields of operation such as recycled energy, closed-industry agriculture, saving and reducing emissions, biomass power, as well as the tire leasing service being brought to Allendale County. The tire service is done through a partnership with DRC Tire, a major tire manufacturer in Asia and biggest brand tire in Vietnam.
“The Tin Thanh group will be joining our very impressive automotive and tire industry. We are the national leader in the export of tires, and with export sales exceeded 1.7 billion. Right now we are producing 144,000 tires each day in South Carolina,” said Governor Henry McMaster at the Economic Development Announcement Ceremony.
On the morning of Tuesday, March 8, state officials, SouthernCarolina Alliance members, Vietnamese delegation, county government, and community leaders gathered in anticipation of the Economic Development Announcement Ceremony being held at the site where the tire facility will be built.
The facility soon-to-be built on Barker’s Mill Pond Road in Fairfax is providing both a product and a service. The company will not only recycle old tires into renewable products to be sourced for energy or retread old tires up to three times for further use, but will also create a hub for all tire-related needs.
“We have created a closed-cycle program for consumers with different engines and transportation industries,” stated a video presentation by Tin Thanh Group.
When using Tin Thanh Group services, truck owners are essentially renting tires rather than buying them. This allows for a 10-20% savings when purchasing tires, no fluctuation of pricing, no charge for environmental fees when replacing old tires, no charge for paying for tire maintenance checks or insurance, the use of tires made by renewable energy, and smart tires that have tracking and monitoring capabilities.
All by-products from recycling scrap tires are recovered and used to generate power.
“We can make use of all this waste to generate power. For instance, with only one kilogram of waste tires, we can produce three kilowatts per hour of electricity. With one liter of waste lubricant oil we can produce six kilowatt per hour of electricity to help,” stated the presentation.
Tin Thanh Group is currently supplying energy from reusable sources like tires for over 40 industrial factories in Vietnam and around the world.
“He has guided Tin Thanh Group in Vietnam through the process of supplying energy from reusable sources for over 40 factories in Vietnam, around the world, and soon to be here in the United States,” said Sernick of Chairman and CEO Tran Dinh Quyen.
Tran hopes this is just the beginning for Vietnamese companies in South Carolina and stated, “there will be many more Vietnamese companies that will be moving here,” from the international connections of the Tin Thanh Group.
According to Sernick, the process of selecting South Carolina as the hub for this project took only four and a half months due to the dedication and welcoming nature of the SouthernCarolina Alliance, Allendale County Council, and many more irreplaceable partners.
Governor McMaster explained the industrial boom South Carolina is currently experiencing and actions he is taking to ensure South Carolinians grow alongside it.
A Volkswagen company is reinventing the 1960s-1980s Scout automobile, but this time it is electric, resulting in a $2 billion investment to establish a factory in Richland County due to an electric battery facility being recently established in Florence County in response to the newly brought BMW facility churning out cars rapidly, according to Gov. McMaster.
All of this buildable growth resulted in $10.27 billion worth of capital investment in the state last year.
“This year I’m asking the General Assembly to invest an additional $78 million in our workforce scholarships for the future,” said Governor McMaster to prepare the prospective workers and upcoming generations for these new industries.
In addition to 1,000 jobs, Tran hopes to develop a housing community for employees in hopes to further the attraction of workers and businesses to Allendale County.
For more information on the Tin Thanh Group, visit https://tinthanhgroup.vn/en/homepage-english/.