In May, Goodyear Dunlop Tires Germany stated it would cease production at its Philippsburg car and light commercial vehicle tyre factory by the end of July. The end came a fortnight before this self-imposed deadline. The last regular shift within the plant went to work last Friday – employee union BCE comments that production ended earlier than planned due to “a labour shortage.”
The Sameer Africa tyre plant in Nairobi, Kenya is being dismantled, with equipment being relocated to India, according to local news reports. This follows the cessation of production back in September 2016 following an announcement last June that that plant would close due to high competition from cheap imported tyres. The company did not specify if the equipment was being sold or used to establish manufacturing in India.
Last October Goodyear Dunlop announced plans to close its Philippsburg tyre plant in southern Germany, and these plans are now official: The tyre maker reports it has agreed to terms for a redundancy plan with the union representing the plant’s 880-strong workforce.
On 18 August Orion Engineered Carbons S.A.’s French subsidiary, Orion Engineered Carbons SAS, reached an agreement with the Works Council and labour union at its Ambes, France facility on a comprehensive social plan. Following this agreement, the French subsidiary will “proceed to implement the restructuring and down staffing of that facility with cessation of production at the site expected by the end of 2016”.
On 3 June Orion Engineered Carbons S.A., the carbon black manufacturer, said the management of its company in France (Orion Engineered Carbons SAS) had begun consultations with the Works Council at its Ambes, France facility in order to implement a restructuring and “down staffing” with “a potential cessation of production at the site by the end of 2016”. The French Orion plant employs approximately 40 people.
Staff representatives and Michelin managers at the French tyre maker’s Ballymena, Northern Ireland truck tyre factory are discussing redundancy packages following the news that the factory is to close in mid-2018. Michelin representatives declined to comment on individual cases, but local press reports suggest particular offers have already been made.
Giti Tire closed its Chongqing, China truck tyre factory in November 2015 the company has confirmed. This means that roughly 90 per cent of the plant’s 1,100 workers will lose or have already lost their jobs, leaving around 100 staff in work.
Continental AG’s ContiTech division is close the 100-year-old former Goodyear plant in Bowmanville, near Durham, North Carolina, USA in mid-2016. Workers were told the news on 13 November 2015. The Bowmanville plant makes conveyor belts for mining, coal and tar sands operations and has reportedly been hit by slowing demand from the global mining industry.
On 3 November Michelin announced a series of pan-European tyre manufacturing restructuring plans designed to address the dual pressures from the on-going negative effects of the 2008 global financial crisis and the sharp increase of low-cost imports – especially in the truck and bus tyre segment. In short this means the closure of its Ballymena truck tyre plant, alongside investment in its Dundee and Stoke facilities; as well as the closure of its Pneu Laurent retreading operation in Germany; not to mention further significant investments and some closures in Michelin’s Italian tyre production plants.
Michelin Tyre Plc is consulting on the closure of its Ballymena truck tyre factory at the same time as investing in the expansion of its Dundee car tyre and Stoke-on-Trent retreading sites. The Ballymena factory closure plans suggest the site will be run-down between now and a mid-2018 closure point. The Ballymena factory currently employs 860 people and Michelin says it is “committed to supporting those employees during consultation and in the forthcoming months”.
Goodyear Dunlop UK has confirmed the closure of its Wolverhampton retreading plant. Closure will happen on a phased basis. The first roles to be made redundant are likely to occur on 31 December 2015, with anticipated production at the plant ending no earlier than January 2017. “It is important to understand that no alternatives to the company’s proposal have been made”, company representatives wrote in a statement.
Following Goodyear Dunlop Tyres UK’s proposal to close its Wolverhampton mixing and retreading facility, Tyrepress spoke to the managing director of Goodyear Dunlop UK, Erich Fric, who explained the business reasons for the decision. “We’ve taken the decision to put this proposal forward based on the economic environment, and in order to keep our companies competitive in the long term,” Fric said.
Goodyear Dunlop UK has no plans in place regarding redundancies at its Wolverhampton mixing and retreading factory. Responding to a report issued by Wolverhampton Express & Star journalist Peter Madeley, Goodyear Dunlop UK managing director Erich Fric told Tyrepress that the company would wait until after the scheduled consultation on the immediate future of the […]
Another of Goodyear Dunlop’s European plants has today announced plans to cease a portion of its production in addition to the planned withdrawal from Wolverhampton. Tyrepress sister site Reifenpresse.de reports that Goodyear Dunlop Tires Germany informed its employees of its intention to relocate remaining car tyre production from Wittlich to other plants within the region EMEA (Europe, Middle East, Africa). PCR production has been shifted away from the plant gradually for several years, with the latest announcement completing cessation of Wittlich’s production of these products.
Following the news of Goodyear’s planned closure of its Wolverhampton mixing and retreading operations, Express & Star journalist, Peter Madeley has quoted “a union spokesman” on Twitter, saying that the closure proposal was “out of the blue”.
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