Kumho Tires for Sale
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Once known as Samyang Tire, Kumho is headquartered in Gwangju. The name of the company means bright lake in the Korean language, and the company, as well as Asiana Airlines, is a subsidiary of the Kumho Asiana Group. The company has been around since September 1960, and began making only about twenty tires a day. Heavy reliance on manual labor was used, and there was a shortage of technology and facilities to increase production. However, this situation was not to last. (Read more about Kumho Tires below...)
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More background about Kumho Tires
In the later part of the 1960s, the company acquired the KS Mark, and shipped out of the country to East Asia for the first time. This was the time when Kumho/Samyang Tire really got started. This first shipment of 200 tires started a period of growth. By 1969, the company had acquired a mark from the US DOT (Department of Transportation) and snow tires were developed shortly afterward.
The period at the end of the 1960s was one where the Korean government was focusing on national reconstruction, setting business objectives for Samyang Tire and many other companies as well. The company poured a great deal of energy into building the present Kwanju Plant, then called the Songjung Plant. Ties were established with the US company Uniroyal, and Kumho entered the world market. On the tenth Korea Export Day, the company received the Stone Trophy, and two years later in 1975, the Silver Trophy.
Despite difficulties in getting raw materials, as well as the mid 1970s oil shock, Kumho still managed to grow impressively. They became a leader in the tire sector and were listed in the Korea Stock Exchange by 1976. In this year, the company also tested its first aircraft tire and received the Korea Export Day Gold Trophy for producing a million tires in a year, then a record in Korea. Another plant was added in 1977, and the company received the Korea Quality Control Award grand prize two years later. The first radial tire was developed in 1978. Public image was strong for the company at this time.
Unfortunately, democratization in the 1980s and political instability in Korea caused problems, with many struggles between labor and management. Eventually all problems were straightened out, however. Ground was broken for the new Koksung plant and total output in 1980 exceeded twenty million tires. A unique colored tire for passenger cars was developed in 1982. In 1983, the first facility overseas was founded for Kumho. The Samyang/Kumho Tire merger occurred in 1984, a year in which the company also won the productivity Grand Prize.
By August 1992, the company was ranked among the top ten in the world tire market, and the next year, its tires participated in the Paris to Dakar Rally. The first ZR grade tire was developed that year, as well as the high end Xelex model. Currently, the company operates three manufacturing facilities in South Korea, as well as three in China, exporting tires from these locations around the world. Kumho also has three centers for R&D, located in South Korea, the US and the UK. As of 2008, the company has begun construction of a new manufacturing facility in Georgia, hoping to produce over two million tires annually.
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