Continental Suspends Mayfield Production and Cuts 800 Jobs

Continental Tire North America has announced that it will indefinitely suspend tyre production at its Mayfield, Kentucky plant by 31 December 2004. The move will mean that 715 hourly and 112 salaried employees will lose their jobs. Continental hopes that working with the appropriate agencies will ease the transition for affected employees. The Mayfield plant is still valuable to Continental and the company has not plans to close it completely. In the meantime Continental will make use of the plant’s mixing and warehouse facilities.

“This was not an easy decision, as we have been weighing our options at Mayfield for some time. We must remain cost-competitive in the market and our industry,” said Martien de Louw, president and CEO for CTNA and member of the executive board of Continental AG, responsible for the division passenger and light truck tyres. “Unfortunately this was our only option, as Mayfield remains the highest cost plant for Continental. Both salary and hourly employees will be affected and we will do our utmost to assist them at this difficult time.”

Continental will continue to produce tyres in other North American facilities.