The company envisions a permanent staff of 250 production workers and 55 corporate employees after three years, according to Pirelli's prepared statement.H&M Co. Inc. of Jackson, TN is constructing the design-build plant at an overall development cost of $350 per sf. The building is expected to be operational by mid-2002. The new site replaces a plant in Hanford, CA that was closed earlier this year.

The plant will manufacture tires for new vehicles and for the replacement tire markets using Pirelli's recently developed Modular Integrated Robotized System which eliminates the human worker entirely in the production cycle, the statement says.

Initially, the plant will be equipped with four MIRS modules that will produce a finished tire every three minutes. Pirelli plans to have 15 modules operating within a few years.