Bridgestone to Cut More than 400 North American Jobs
On November 16, Tyres & Accessories reported a number of redundancies at the Bridgestone Bandag Tire Solutions facility in Muscatine, Iowa. These job cuts were announced within the context of restructuring taking place within Bridgestone’s North American operations. It now appears the 18 job losses at the Muscatine site are not an isolated occurrence within Bridgestone’s restructuring plans; the company expects to cut approximately 425 North American jobs before the end of August 2011.
In July Bridgestone Americas launched its ‘Bridge to Excellence’, or B2E, a programme considered one of the company’s most significant transformations within the last quarter of a century. The purpose of B2E is to reduce operating costs and boost productivity through improving efficiencies, streamlining business processes and simplifying corporate decision making. The company established a number of ‘tactical teams’ for the purpose of reviewing operating procedure, and the teams’ findings have been used as a foundation for the changes Bridgestone Americas is now embarking on.
One result of the company’s restructuring, consolidation and relocation programme is the elimination of around 385 jobs and 40 contractor and open positions within Bridgestone Americas’ operations. Around half of the job cuts have already taken effect, with positions being eliminated across all parts of the company’s organisation. Bridgestone is said to be dealing with the “painful” decision to cut jobs “in a careful and objective manner designed to ensure fairness”, and expresses confidence that the workloads of remaining staff will not be increased over the long-term.
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