Michelin Wants Stoke Manufacturing to Continue Despite Downturn

Michelin’s eight decade manufacturing presence in Stoke-on-Trent is likely to be maintained despite a downturn in sales during the second half of 2008. This drop in business, reflected by the facility’s first ever prolonged Christmas period closure, may lead to job losses in 2009 – however the company retains a positive outlook for its future.

“Less demand for products means less demand to ship them round the country, which leads to trucks doing less mileage and therefore less demand for the tyres we make at Stoke,” explained site manager Peter Marsh to local newspaper The Sentinel. Despite this, he added, Michelin is fairing better than some of its competitors. “The good news is that our market share has held up through the whole 12 months and we are still market leaders in the UK,” he said. “If you look at the Michelin group as a whole, it is well placed to ride out the current period of uncertainty…our financial position and our position in the market sectors all over the world give the group a good resilience.”

When asked if job losses were a possibility, Marsh said “we need to be more efficient in our activities and in all our processes and we need to be more competitive in the market.” He added that “we’ll review the position early in the New Year. The really important thing to do is to concentrate on protecting the business.

“The main thing is to keep your eye on the ball and make sure we maintain our manufacturing base in Stoke-on- Trent,” Marsh continued. “We have a good business here and good demand for our products. We are very competitive in terms of manufacturing costs and productivity…we are very well situated on a major transport network in the centre of the country. It is quite clear to me there is great potential here for the Stoke site to continue.”

In conclusion, the site manager said “we have got over 100 years in the UK and over 80 years at Stoke site. It’s a tradition that must continue, but it must move with the times…if we don’t do that and progress our productivity and competitiveness, then it would be a different story.”