Pirelli tire plant comes on line

ROME - With the push of a bright yellow button, production at the new Pirelli tire plant in Rome began Saturday. <br> <br> Less than 10 minutes later, the first production P Zero Nero tire came off the line and was presented to Gov. Roy Barnes, who had pressed the button. <br> <br> ``This is the first tire I&#39;ve ever made in my life,&#39;&#39; Barnes joked as Gaetano Mannino, president and chief executive officer of Pirelli North America, handed him the tire. <br> <br> The 400,000-square-foot facility, the Italian company&#39;s fourth modular integrated robotic system (MIRS) operation in the world, represents a $140 million investment in Rome. <br> <br> The plant includes Pirelli&#39;s North American headquarters and research and development facility. <br> <br> ``Georgia&#39;s long history of automotive leadership was a key determining factor for locating our headquarters in Rome,&#39;&#39; Mannino said. <br> <br> The highly automated MIRS module reduces the 14-step tire manufacturing process to three steps capable of turning out a tire every three minutes. MIRS requires only about one-fifth of the space and uses one-third of the energy as conventional tire manufacturing. <br> <br> Pirelli plans to have 15 MIRS modules in production within three years and has room to add five additional modules. <br> <br> Mannino said Pirelli expects to have 300 workers in Rome within three years, about 250 of whom will be production workers and the remaining 50 corporate personnel.