Black's Tire Commercial Division has opened a new 50,000 square-foot retread plant and commercial distribution center in Clarkton, N.C.

The new facility replaces a smaller plant in Clinton, N.C., and can produce up to 225 different truck tire retreads from 16-inch to 24.5-inch wheel diameters.

Black's Tire has 18 commercial tire and service locations in North Carolina and South Carolina, where it offers such brands as Goodyear, Kelly and Dunlop. The plant currently retreads about 100 truck tires per day, but the company plans to expand that number with customer growth.

"New retreading equipment, state-of-the-art tire management technology and more storage capability at our new retread plant and distribution center will allow us to offer a new level of cradle-to-grave tire service," said Ricky Benton, Sr., owner of Black's Tire.

Because the new facility uses a lean manufacturing approach, employees can process retreads more quickly and efficiently, said Jeremy Benton, manager of the new retread plant. Since the new Clarkton location also has additional warehouse space and more covered space for scrap tires, Black's Tire can offer fleets enhanced mounted tire programs and detailed scrap tire analysis.

"Our goal is to help our customers see the value and quality that Goodyear retreading can offer," Jeremy Benton said. "It's also a great way for our customers to adopt a more environmentally friendly approach to their fleet operations because the retreading process allows them to reuse the tire casing."

The retreading plant produces tires using Goodyear's Precure and patented UniCircle retreading processes.