Car Tyre Production To Cease At Fort Dunlop

In January, it was announced that, following the review of the Goodyear group’s European operations, caused by the Goodyear/Sumitomo joint venture, production of truck tyres was to cease at the Dunlop factory at Fort Dunlop, Birmingham, England. This week, there was another body-blow for the Fort when it was revealed that production of Dunlop brand car and light truck tyres would also be stopped at the ageing factory. The move will result in 600 employees losing their jobs and the first redundancies will happen in September.

Most of the job losses will be in manufacturing, but some support functions will be affected too. Production of tyres will cease by the year end. Senior Executive Bob Heywood told TYRES & ACCESSORIES that the only tyre manufacturing at Fort Dunlop after this date will be the motorsports division, which makes around 250,000 tyres (including motorcycle racing tyres) a year.

Some 200 are involved in this sector of production and, in all, the total number of employees will be around the 500 mark.Fort Dunlop is probably the oldest factory in the Goodyear group’s European operations, having been built in 1916 and producing its first tyre a year later. Some H, V and Z-rated tyres are made at the plant, but the majority of production is in the S and T-rated sector, which are less profitable and can be made cheaper elsewhere.

Dunlop says it remains committed to its car tyre brand and production will be shared out between other European factories, probably the Washington, Tyne & Wear plant and the factories in Germany, France and Poland. The plant at Washington is much more modern and produces around 12,600 car and light truck tyres a day. The announcement means that the current 6-days a week production will be increased to 7-day working.

As well as the age of Fort Dunlop, a major factor in the decision was the strength of the Pound vis-a-vis the Euro and there have been some harsh words in the local Birmingham press directed at the British Government. The fall in domestic car production was another contributory factor.The job losses are not only a blow for Dunlop, but for the West Midlands area, which expects significant job losses following the recent sale of Rover cars to the Phoenix consortium.

Bob Heywood said that the company would do its utmost to assist those losing their jobs, as indeed the company did when 650 were made redundant following the cessation of truck tyre production. these measures will include on-site Job Centres, financial counselling and training in job search and interview techniques. For Central Government, the Department of Trade & Industry described the decision as “regrettable” and pledged support to find employees new jobs.

As well as Dunlop’s Washington plant, the retread factory at Patricroft is not affected by the current announcement. However, there are fears that this may not be the last word on the matter, as one press report quotes Goodyear as saying that substantial restructuring will still be needed in the future..