Jobs
(Akron/Tire Review) Michelin North America (MNA) has confirmed reports that it plans to invest $85 million over the next five years at its OTR tyre production facility in Lexington, South Carolina, increasing production by nearly 50 per cent.
Next year will see Continental launch ContiCrossContact Winter, a new 4×4 SUV winter tyre with asymmetrical tread design. Development of this tyre has been focused on safe driving properties on typical winter roads, superb handling in the dry, and a high resistance to aquaplaning. Starting in the autumn of 2006, the ContiCrossContact Winter tyre will gradually replace the company’s well-proven Conti4x4WinterContact.
Continental has introduced what the company describes as “a novel wheel/tyre system” which it believes could revolutionise the fitting of industrial tyres.
Called the CSEasy, the tyre can be fitted on any Lemmerz-type rim without using a mounting press and using only a special, conical-shaped adapter and a torque wrench. The advantages are obvious; no call-out delay and greatly reduced downtime as the tyre is fitted on-site straight away. “CSEasy,” says Continental, “will revolutionise Super-Elastic tyres forever.”
Wheel deliveries between Amcast and General Motors have been temporarily restored following the component manufacturer’s second chapter 11 filing this year. The move is said to have averted a shut down at several GM assembly plants. Either way, court documents presented in Amcast’s bankruptcy filing report that it stopped all deliveries of previously ordered wheels to GM on 30 November, the day before Amcast filed for emergency bankruptcy protection. That move came after talks designed to modify business contracts between the two companies broke down.
(Akron/Tire Review) As was first reported by Tire Review, Michelin North America (MNA) plans to invest $80 million over the next six years to upgrade equipment and increase capacity at its semi-finished rubber production facilities in Sandy Springs and Starr, South Carolina.
Formula One Autocentres has moved up a gear this month, celebrating its latest expansion programme in the Norwich area. Creating 12 new jobs for the city, the family-run business opened the doors of its newest centre (81 Barn Road, Norwich) on 19 November. To celebrate this latest development programme, the company drove down prices with a selection of tremendous opening offers.
(Akron/Tire Review) Struggling General Motors Corp announced this morning that it would close nine North American production and assembly plants and cut 30,000 manufacturing jobs by 2008 as part of an effort to get production in line with demand. Rick Wagoner, chairman and CEO of the world’s largest automaker, announced the closures during a speech to employees from GM’s Detroit headquarters. Wagoner has repeatedly denied that GM would file for bankruptcy.
Continental AG will make a decision in the next fortnight about whether to cut 10 per cent of jobs (320 positions) at its tyre factory in Hanover-Stoecken, chief executive Manfred Wennemer told Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung. “The fact is we have an over-capacity of tyre (production),” Wennemer said. “The costs at Stoecken are higher than at any other plant in Western Europe. We are not talking 10 cents higher, but more than a euro higher per tyre produced,” Wennemer said.
The Washington-based International Labor Rights Fund has filed a Federal lawsuit alleging that Bridgestone Corp uses slave and child labour on its rubber plantation in Harbel, Liberia, news agencies have reported.
The suit seeks class action on behalf of 12 adult workers and 23 children and claims the plaintiffs could not bring similar court actions in Liberia because of fear of retribution and a corrupt court system. The suit requests a jury trial and unspecified damages, according to the Associated Press.
Alcoa has announced a US $83 million (Euro 70 million) investment in its Hungary based operation. The injection will modernise Alcoa-Kofem Ltd, expanding its products capability and related infrastructure, and adding new aluminum wheel production.
(Akron/Tire Review) Bridgestone/Firestone North American Tire’s Canadian operation and the Quebec government will invest $53.3 million (Canadian) on improvements to the company’s 40-year-old Joliette, Quebec, tyre plant.
The deal was announced last Friday, and is intended to preserve some 1,250 jobs at the plant. Bridgestone/Firestone Canada Inc will contribute $49.8 million and the provincial government will add $3.5 million. Most of the funds will go toward new equipment and facility reorganization.
For the last 18 months Stapletons has kept pretty quiet about its plans for the UK market and consequently rumours have abounded about the strength of the company’s position. Now, chief executive officer, Kenji Murai has broken silence, announcing efficiency cuts and $25 million of investment designed to set “Stapletons apart from its competitors…into 2006 and beyond.”
On the 11 October Stapletons announced that it plans to close its Dereham tyre distribution centre (TDC), cut around 50 jobs and introduce new stock distribution methods at its Bristol, Coatbridge and Warrington TDCs. Delving deeper, Tyres & Accessories learnt that the cutbacks are the first step in a programme that will see the company’s Japanese backers invest a minimum of $25 million over the next three to five years.
At first glance words like restructuring, redundancies and consultation can paint quite a negative image, but Stapletons representatives insist that the moves are growth driven. While CEO Kenji Murai concedes that cutting jobs and closing sites is a response to the “challenging trading environment that the whole industry is widely acknowledged to be facing,” he also believes it is a positive move.
Taking this into account, it is clear that the events of the last 18 months, and the number of recent top-level personnel changes that have taken place at the company, signal a tide change in the direction of the wholesaler.
Take the recent appointment of Andrew Long as head of marketing. Mr Long comes from a non-tyre background and will have been selected for his knowledge of marketing rather than his in-depth understanding of sizes and fitments. Likewise the appointments of Kenji Murai as CEO and Taro Ikeba as chief financial officer – both moving from previous roles with the Itochu Corporation – also signals how the Stapletons’ Japanese backer is stepping up its involvement in the company. The fact that Mr Murai’s previous role saw him direct formation of Pit100, Itochu’s Japanese tyre retailer, is particularly telling.
However, according to Stapletons executives, Alan Denton’s recent departure had nothing to do with the ongoing plans.
For Stapletons, it’s a question of first things first. And at the moment that means overseeing the closure of the Dereham TDC. One might think that the closure of a distribution centre might make distribution more difficult, but according to Stapletons it has actually been more a question of increasing efficiency. In the future customers that were previous served by the Dereham TDC will now be served by the company’s Letchworth hub.
Confused? You have to understand Kaizen philosophy – the principle of perpetual improvement, Mr Murai explains. For Stapletons, one example of this is reducing the number of stock keeping units (SKUs) the company holds from 3500 to 2500 in order to move with more agility in an oversupplied market. Consequently less physical space is needed. This move will be coupled with “a smarter form of distribution” at the Bristol, Coatbridge and Warrington TDCs.
According to company representatives, all of Stapletons’ retail outlets will continue to operate independently of any changes to the wholesaler operations.
Formula 1 has gained an 11th team, although it is not certain they will compete in 2006. Former Grand Prix driver, Aguri Suzuki, made an application to compete next year in a car powered by Honda engines and running on Bridgestone tyres. However the fact that the team have to build their own chassis means the Super Aguri Formula One is facing an uphill battle to be ready in time for the beginning of next season.
The team will be based in Tokyo with race operations situated at the former TWR headquarters in Leafield, Oxfordshire, the Telegraph reported. Takuma Sato, BAR test drivers Anthony Davidson and Adam Carroll, and Super Aguri IRL driver Kosuke Matsuura are all said to be under consideration for the drivers’ jobs.
(Akron/Tire Review) Continental Tire North America Inc. (CTNA) may cut additional jobs at its Charlotte, NC, tyre plant or shut down the facility, according to Alan Hippe, chief financial officer for Continental AG. Hippe told The Charlotte Observer that the Charlotte plant is CTNA’s most expensive manufacturing facility. Health care and pensions are primarily responsible for the high costs, he told the newspaper.
Romanian university graduates are self-motivated and optimistic about the future, a survey commissioned by Continental AG has found. Although strongly attached to their home country, they are basically willing to relocate, with a career preference for Western countries and, above all, the United States. On the other hand, they would flatly reject a job offer in neighbouring East European countries like Russia or Ukraine, regardless of how attractive the position might be. Equally unpopular are offers from China or Brazil.
In general students feel they have received a good education although they are said to “greatly regret not having received much practical experience.” Continental is one of the largest investors in Romania and runs plants in Timisoara, Sibiu and Satu Mare.
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