Michelin to Reorganise Italy Operations

On October 28 Michelin announced its plan to make operations in Italy more competitive. More than 200 million euros will be invested between now and 2013 to upgrade the company’s production facilities in the country, in order to make them more productive and specialised.

Production capacity will be significantly increased in Cuneo; following this expansion the Michelin plant will be the largest premium passenger car tyre production facility in Europe. Car tyre production will end at the company’s Stura workshop in Turin at the end of 2009. Semi-finished products will continue to be manufactured there, however, and the site’s logistics centre will operate following the transfer of the Vercelli warehouse.

The Michelin Group says it has pledged to offer a new position to each employee concerned by these measures and to create the same number of jobs in the local area as will be eliminated. A programme to support job creation will be deployed to reconvert the Stura facility and help revitalise the Turin job catchment area.

The modernisation and reorganisation plan, says Michelin, will enable the company to strengthen its industrial position in Italy, a country it says is and will remain a powerful production base for the Group. Last year was the company’s centenary of operations in Italy, and today Michelin has more than 5,000 employees at four industrial sites in Alessandria, Cuneo, Fossano and Turin.