Giti Tire celebrates its opening, and its people

RICHBURG, S.C. — The importance and impact of Wednesday's opening of Giti Tire can't be understated. There are a lot of really big numbers associated with the grand opening.

There will be 30,000 tires produced a day once production ramps up, 1,700 full time employees once the plant finishes hiring.   There is 1.7 million square feet of manufacturing space with room to expand.

That is a $560 million investment.

The Singapore-based company, which is family-owned, has put a big footprint down in rural Chester County.

It's the people there already working in the plant who have maybe the most to gain.   Jobs in the county have struggled since the decline of textile mills in the 1980s and 1990s.

Chester County's population of roughly 30,000 has shrunk over the years.  Many leave the county each day and commute to Charlotte, Rock Hill or Columbia.

Giti Tire can begin to change that.

It's expected to create more than 5,000 jobs in the long run as other companies and smaller businesses locate there.

"It's a new start, a new beginning," Brenda Crawford said.

She showed Channel 9 how she spins each tire, runs her hands through the inside of it and inspects it for any irregularities.

She worked 30 years in manufacturing and was laid off twice. She feels like she's at home now.

"It's good. It's good because this is all I know," she said.

James Young also worked in plants before where nothing ever seemed permanent, until now.

"I wanted a career where I could stay and retire," he said. "This is a great place to work."

One of the nation's biggest, and best-known employers also had a hand in Wednesday's event.

Walmart will be a huge customer for Giti buying 500,000 tires from the company a year to stock its stores nationwide.

Walmart CEO Greg Foran said the deal was made in a handshake, after a brief conversation with Giti executives about five years ago.

"This goes a long, long way toward helping us fulfill our ambition of ‘Made in the USA,’" Foran said.

South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster touted South Carolina's job growth and got to make a tire himself, then sign it with a Sharpie pen.

"I think you could feel the spirit, and the happiness and the high expectations for the future in the room," McMaster said.

Dignitaries took a tour through the sprawling complex from massive room to massive room, lined with high-tech machines that can spit out a tire in 45 seconds.

The CEOs and executives said their piece in front of the news cameras,  but no one captured the room, like Giti employee  Arlene McIver.

Her life story is of a woman who lost her husband, raised kids on her own and moved from temporary job to temporary job. She cleaned beauty salons to put food on the table.

Through tears, she told a crowd of hundreds what Giti means to her.

"Not having a permanent job, getting laid off and not knowing what's going to happen the next day caused a hardship for me and my kids. Then, through a friend, I heard of Giti Tire hiring," she said.

Her emotional speech brought the crowd to its feet.

Giti executives told Channel 9 they'll still be hiring, for years as production ramps up and shifts are added.

Tires from the Chester plant are expected to be in stores by the end of the year.

Cox Media Group