Michelin has reportedly reduced working hours at its Homburg, Germany tyre production plant. The move affects 900 of the 1200 workers at the factory that specialises in manufacturing truck tyres. The Saarbruecker Zeitung newspaper quoted a company spokesperson as saying the measure is planned to take effect from 1 March for six months.
In 2007 Apollo Tyres entered into an agreement to supply OTR tyres to Indian mining equipment manufacturer BEML, and on February 13 the tyre maker announced it will receive a Rs 1 billion (£14.45 million) loan from the state-owned enterprise to cover the costs of a new facility that will meet anticipated BEML demand. The first phase of Apollo’s new OTR tyre facility in Gujarat, being built at a total cost of Rs 1.2 billion (£17.34 million), will be dedicated to output for the equipment manufacturer. Further investments to boost the production of radial OTR tyres will also be made over the next three years, Apollo announced.
While the first batch of tyres from the new facility has already been shipped to BEML, the factory is expected to commence continuous production in March.
Robby Gordon achieved the impressive feat of taking his independent Team Dakar USA to the top of the Open category and third place overall in the 2009 Dakar Rally, beating off challenges from several manufacturer teams. In gaining third place, his was also the fastest two wheel drive vehicle on show.
Gordon uses 37×13.5R17 open Country M/T tires on his Monster Energy H3 Hummer. Despite an increased restrictor plate, his H3 Hummer was able to keep up with the factory cars in all but the very fastest sections, something that the grip qualities of the Toyo rubber contributed towards, says the manufacturer. Gordon and Toyo have vowed to return in 2010 to attempt to reach the top step of the podium, which – considering the millions spent by the works teams – would be some achievement.
It appears that workers at Pirelli’s factory in Carlisle are facing a further reduction to their workload. According to the local News & Star newspaper, a new arrangement begins on February 9, under which employees that normally work 40 hours in the week will be asked to work only 32 per week until April 1. An official statement on the issue is still being approved by the company’s head office in Milan, Italy, the paper added.
The dates for the shutdown of Pirelli’s factory in Carlisle have been confirmed – between February 24 and March 4, production at the plant will be cut to compensate for a dropping demand for passenger car tyres. The News & Star reports a company spokesman as saying “there will be a staged close down and restart commencing from February 24 until March 4. During this period it is anticipated there will be around six days shutdown per production department.”
According to the spokesman, Pirelli attempted to coincide the shutdown with the half-term school holiday break, but was unable to due to previous scheduled maintenance work.
Employees at Pirelli’s facility in Kartepe, Turkey have taken part in a sit-in protest at the factory site after hearing news that 80 workers had been laid off. Workers at the Türk Pirelli factory stopped production late on January 26 and many occupied the factory. According to the Lastik-İş labour union, all 1,150 factory employees took part in the sit-in.
News published by the Cumberland News on January 28 indicates that Pirelli’s factory in Carlisle will close for a week in February. The newspaper talks of a phased shutdown at the factory beginning at the end of the month, and this report is the latest in a serious of setbacks experienced by plant workers – since summer 2008 around 80 employee redundancies have been announced, and the factory’s planned Christmas period shutdown was also extended due to a downturn in sales.
Hugh Pace, chairman and CEO of Pirelli Tyre North America, introduced the latest tyre dedicated to the North American market; the Z-rated P Zero Nero All Season. The tyre incorporates a silica-based compound and the asymmetric tread features a solid centre rib for optimum braking and acceleration, while four longitudinal and numerous lateral grooves minimises the risk of aquaplaning. Low rolling resistance maximises fuel economy and the two zero degree nylon cap plies and steel belts minimise footprint deformation under extreme handling conditions.
The P Zero Nero All Season has a growing list of OE homologations and the tyre is available in almost 30 sizes, including a number of runflat dimensions. It is manufactured at Pirelli’s factory in Rome, Georgia, using the company’s Modular Integrated Robotized System (MIRS) technology.
Following a delay attributed to the economic slowdown, construction work on Kumho Tire’s new factory in the US state of Georgia is tentatively set to begin before the end of 2009. If work proceeds according to this schedule, the factory should be producing tyres in 2011, slightly more than a year after originally anticipated.
In the US, Goodyear has been ordered by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration to recall 18 incorrectly labeled tyres. The offending units were manufactured in the company’s Lawton, Oklahoma factory in the second week of January 2008, and barring roadside mishaps all one and a half dozen of these Goodyear Eagle RS-A P235/55R18 99V passenger car tyres may still be plying the roads of America.
The lockout at PTL Enterprises Ltd in India appears to have reached a stalemate, with both parties sticking to their respective positions without compromise. According to an official at Apollo Tyres, the employees’ unions demand that the lockout end as a pre-condition to enter into further negotiations, while management at the Apollo Tyres supplier say the company will end the lockout only after the issues are discussed and settled.
The light has yet to appear at the end of the economic downturn tunnel, and in response to market conditions Michelin in the UK is taking steps to cut costs. Measures being introduced include a pause in production of its Encore brand truck tyres between April 11 and 20, and a delay in the annual salary increases of about 600 salaried employees. Increases due in May will not take place until September.
While the 240 Michelin North America employees temporarily laid off from the company’s Ardmore, Oklahoma factory have returned to their jobs, a further 110 workers, employed by a manufacturing outsourcing company, will not be returning to the Michelin factory any time soon.
Proposed initiatives to tackle the effects of the economic situation have been well received by union representatives. On January 16 the company announced that discussions with employees and the union Unite have led to a number of measures being put forward in an attempt to avoid redundancies at the company’s Baldovie factory in Dundee. Michelin has proposed temporary plant closures in which employees would be asked to take 56 hours off on full pay, with the proviso they work back the time in 2010, or else take the time off on two-thirds pay without the obligation to work it back.
Following a 15-day production halt in December Birla Tyres is planning another temporary closure of its factory in Orissa, India, again in response to weakening sales of the company’s tyres. A senior member of staff at the factory, who wished to remain anonymous, told the Indo-Asian News Service that Birla “will shut down the plant from January 19 to January 31 because of falling demand.” He added that employees have already been notified of the decision.
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