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Temporary Positions Eliminated at Michelin Dundee

Local media sources indicate that a number of temporary staff at Michelin’s factory in Dundee have lost their jobs. The Evening Telegraph states it was contacted on March 25 by a worker affected by this decision, who complained that the company was eliminating positions at the Dundee site starting with temporary workers. Plant personnel manager Ian Peart confirmed to the newspaper that staff are indeed being let go, but claimed Michelin’s decision was not related to the current economic crisis.

25th March 2009/by Tyrepress Editors

Goodyear Agrees State Aid Deal to Retain Topeka Jobs

In the US, Goodyear agreed on Friday to a ten-year guarantee on the 1,400 jobs situated at its Topeka, Kansas plant in exchange for $14.2 million in state financing. The additional funds are to be used to support the refurbishment of the outdated production machinery housed at the plant. Previous reports had put the figure requested by Goodyear at $37.5 million, with the tyre maker wanting to invest $250 million in the proposed refitting.

The commerce secretary David Kerr – who had voiced concerns at the size of the initial figure – stated to the Topeka Capital-Journal that the Kansas state Impact programme would support the issuance of incentive bonds for Goodyear’s benefit. The debt will be repaid through revenue generated by the company’s state payroll tax, he said.

23rd March 2009/by Tyrepress Editors

Goodyear Announces 26th North American Highway Hero

Goodyear has announced the winner of its 26th Goodyear North American Highway Hero Award, honouring Colorado truck driver Jorge Orozco Sanchez. He saved the lives of two young girls after a horrific highway accident last October. The announcement was made at a special awards banquet during the Mid-America Trucking Show. Alongside the award, he also received a $10,000 U.S. Savings Bond, a plaque and a specially designed ring.

An independent owner-operator, Orozco Sanchez was hauling grain on Oct. 28, 2008 on Highway 392, north of Greeley, CO, when an SUV suddenly crossed the centre line and crashed head-on into his tractor-trailer rig. After impact, the truck pushed the SUV backward down the road for about 200 feet. As the vehicles stopped moving, a shaken Orozco Sanchez quickly jumped from his cab and went to the other vehicle. There, with flames already beginning to surround the vehicles, he saw two girls, strapped into their car seats and crying, and a woman up front who was not moving. Working with a passer-by who used a fire extinguisher to fight back the flames, Orozco Sanchez used his knowledge of child car seats – he has two young children – to rescue the two girls.

One of the youngsters was extracted quickly, but the fire was getting bigger and the smoke was so thick he had trouble seeing into the vehicle. He was finally able to remove the other girl, then the truck’s saddle fuel tanks ruptured and exploded, creating an inferno. The 27-year-old mother died in the crash. Orozco Sanchez sustained burns on his arms from the rescue and was taken to a nearby hospital. The fire reduced the cab and the SUV to rubble, also burning the side of a nearby building.

20th March 2009/by Tyrepress Editors

Plimsoll Reports Suggest Acquisition “Opportunity”

Plimsoll analysts have announced a new report suggesting that the UK tyres, exhausts and batteries industry is rife with opportunity, despite a record number of companies losing money, and overall business values plummeting to the extent that almost half are now worth less than half their value of 12 months ago. The new study suggests that the current economic downturn represents “one of the biggest opportunities in a generation, if you have the courage and the capital.”

The study rates each of the UK’s leading 1,000 tyres, exhausts and batteries companies on their acquisition attractiveness, finding 103 companies “ripe for the picking” based on a combined scoring system incorporating overall financial strength, ownership, valuation and future potential. These 103 companies are all privately owned, yet are showing a serious deterioration in the financial performance. Given the reluctance of the banks to lend more, their time, money and options are running out.

20th March 2009/by Tyrepress Editors

State Officials Clash on Goodyear Topeka Request

Kansas officials have reportedly disagreed over a decision whether to respond affirmatively to a request from Goodyear to provide nearly $38 million in state aid, in order to continue operating from the company’s plant in Topeka. The tyre manufacturer says that it will commit to $250 million-worth of spending on equipment upgrades at the plant if Kansas is willing to offer its suggested incentives. Goodyear says that without the upgrades, up to 700 jobs may have to be cut.

19th March 2009/by Tyrepress Editors

HiQ Tyre Retail Chain to Create Up To 500 Jobs

HiQ has announced plans to create up to 500 new jobs as part of its ambitious national franchise programme. The fast fit franchise chain, which currently has 137 HiQ centres across England and Wales, is creating the positions over the next three years as the number of outlets on UK high streets rises to a targetted 275 by 2012. The company has already accelerated the growth of the nationwide tyre and vehicle servicing network by signing long-term franchise agreements in 2008 when 106 Goodyear Dunlop owned HiQ centres were franchised. HiQ is now extending the model to many more towns and cities.

Currently 41 HiQ franchisees operate 137 HiQ centres, compared to just 15 franchisees operating 33 centres in 2007. New jobs are now being created weekly, with for example, 10 new positions announced for HiQ’s Kettering store this month. HiQ Retail Director Juergen Titz said: “The objective is to grow the business with new open points in towns and cities. The plan is to get 170 centres by the end of 2009 and 275 by 2012. The franchisee network is investing more than £2 million into improved customer environments in 2009, and this award winning franchise concept will increase transparency and certainty for our customers.”

18th March 2009/by Tyrepress Editors

Topeka Plant Needs $38 million State Aid: Goodyear

Goodyear has told Kansas state that it needs $38 million state aid if 700 jobs are to be saved at its Topeka plant. The manufacturer says that it needs to spend $250 million to upgrade its machinery in order to build large OTR tyres. The proposal will come before the Senate after the company’s presentation on Monday to a House committee. Goodyear hopes to be added to a bill including incentives for wind and solar equipment manufacturers relocating in the state.

Goodyear has reason to be optimistic about the success of its bid: the company is Topeka’s largest employer and in 2002 it received $10 million in incentives to keep the company operating in its current location and on the condition that it would spend a further $50 million there – the company would go on to invest $124 million there.

17th March 2009/by Tyrepress Editors

Medicine Hat Goodyear to Shut Temporarily

The Goodyear plant in Medicine Hat, Canada – to the East of Calgary – has announced that it will shut down production temporarily next month. The factory will shut for one week, starting on 13 April. The plant is also set to lose 35 full-time jobs on 28 March, while it recently cut its working week to five days. The company says that stagnant demand and a struggling automotive sector have led to the decision, while plant manager Mike MacGregor has quashed rumours that staff numbers could be cut by a further 40-50, though he told local newspaper the Medicine Hat News that there is a possibility that the plant will shave another day off its already-curtailed working week. “What we’re trying to do is protect the remaining workforce,” he concluded.

17th March 2009/by Tyrepress Editors

AAIA: Vehicle Repairs Cost 34% More at Car Dealers

Vehicle repairs cost an average 34 per cent more at car dealerships than at independent repair shops, according to a study by the Automotive Aftermarket Industry Association (AAIA). That price differential, AAIA said, results in $11.7 billion annually in excess costs to consumers. The study also reveals differences in the costs of parts and labor from city to city. Consumers in Los Angeles, the study showed, pay as much as 46.8% more for repairs at car dealers than at independent repair shops. (Tire Review/Akron)

12th March 2009/by Tyrepress Editors

Bandvulc Cuts 20 Jobs

Leading retread manufacturer and fleet service provider, Bandvulc is to shed about 20 jobs at its factory due to reduced commercial haulage. The company, which has contracts with most of the leading supermarket fleets and the likes of Boots and frozen food giant Yearsley Group, has previously performed well in recessions as a result of fleets trying to save money. However, this time around managing director Patrick O’Connell has highlighted the fact that “smaller local firms,” such as Bandvulc, are not benefiting from large scale Government investment.

As a result the firm has reportedly “started the process” of reducing its workforce by about 20. “Bandvulc is a family company which is owned and operates locally. It is therefore especially difficult for us to face the fact that we must reduce the number of our employees. We are acutely aware of the problem it causes those affected, but we must run a viable company which will be strong and able to capitalise on the upturn when it comes to again to create good jobs,” O’Connell told thisiscornwall.co.uk.

11th March 2009/by Tyrepress Editors

Dunlop India Plant to Restart Production in 2-3 Months

According to information given my Dunlop India chairman P K Ruia on March 6, the company’s Shahgunj factory will begin production in the next two to three months, and in stages all employees will return to work. “I want to reassure everybody that the plant will begin production and each of the employees would be absorbed in phases,” said Ruia.

9th March 2009/by Tyrepress Editors

BATO Distribution Center Earns Honors

Bridgestone Americas Tire Operations regional distribution centre at Cecil Commerce Center in Jacksonville, Florida, was named the “Industrial Project of the Year” at the annual National Association of Industrial and Office Properties. The distribution centre, BATO’s largest in the country, is a one-million-square-foot, $44 million facility on 63.3 acres at Cecil Commerce Center. The distribution centre has a significant impact at Cecil and has indirectly created more than 200 jobs at JAXPORT, according to BATO.

With capacity for more than a million tyres ranging from small passenger and industrial to commercial truck tyres, this centre supplies tyres and automotive parts to Florida, Georgia, South Carolina and North Carolina. In addition, the distribution centre will ultimately supply the entire U.S. with imports from Latin America and the eastern half of the U.S. with tyres from Japan and other Asian countries.

“We are happy to be in Jacksonville — the people of this community have been great to work with,” said Steve Shelton, vice president of logistics and supply chain management, BATO. “The city of Jacksonville, the city council and the Jacksonville Economic Development Commission helped us every step of the way. They’ve proven to us that Jacksonville is a great place to live and do business. We are very fortunate to have such great partners in this endeavor.” (Tire Review/Akron)

9th March 2009/by Tyrepress Editors

Michelin Development Loans Creating 160 New Jobs in Canada

Since the Michelin Development programme in Canada’s Greater Waterloo Region was launched two years ago, the scheme has created around 700 potential new jobs and lent close to CA$3 million to local entrepreneurs. On March 4 the organisation announced five new loans.

“Michelin Development in the Greater Waterloo Region is proud to be a significant factor in the creation of 700 potential new jobs for people in the region,” said John Tully, director of Michelin Development (Canada) Inc. in the Greater Waterloo Region. “The loans that we have provided help fund the vision and drive of the eighteen companies and entrepreneurs that have received them.”

6th March 2009/by Tyrepress Editors

Layoffs and Further Shutdowns Await Pirelli Carlisle Workers

A report in the Cumberland News indicates that 20 more jobs are to go from Pirelli’s factory in Carlisle. According to the paper, employees have been informed of the redundancies. Pirelli is said to hope that the positions can be eliminated through voluntary redundancies.

Additionally, two further temporary plant shutdowns are scheduled, and the factory will close for five days during March and a further five in April.

6th March 2009/by Tyrepress Editors

Goodyear’s Topeka Plant to Make 200-225 Redundant

In the US, Goodyear’s Topeka, Kansas plant is the latest to usher in a series of buyouts and layoffs, cutting its staff by between 200 and 225. The decision follows the manufacturer’s announcement made in the wake of its 2008 EOY report, which stated that it would be” taking aggressive action… to better match market conditions” by cutting 5,000 jobs in 2009. Steelworkers Local 307 voted in favour of an agreement to change contract regulations relating to staffing and production levels.

In a news release, Local 307 president Robert Tripp said the economic situation, customer demand and product inventory led union workers to agree to lowering the staffing and production level provisions.
“During these discussions the union’s primary focus was to protect each of our members and their families during these uncertain economic times,” he said in a statement. “This agreement was made to improve the viability of the plant and to improve its cost structure so that the Topeka facility shall remain competitive.”

6th March 2009/by Tyrepress Editors