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The United Steelworkers of America union (USWA) has announced that it has begun conducting strike preparation meetings with employees at Bridgestone/Firestone North American Tire (BFNAT) plants, according to Tire Review.
Automotive supplier Beru AG has announced that it will spend 5 million euros expanding its research and development facilities in Ludwigsburg. The plans will see the company’s R&D and test centre enlarged by a new extension building. As a result of the extension, the company will gain about one thousand square meters of usable space. In addition to quality management and control, the new building will also accommodate development for the company’s glow plugs and diesel engines as well as applications technology activities. Construction work will start in July 2005. The new building should be completed and put into operation by the end of the financial year in March 2006.
“This investment decision is fully in line with our long-term policy of maintaining BERU’s competitiveness by means of permanent innovation. Each year we invest around 10 per cent of our sales revenues for this purpose. This investment rate is one of the highest in the industry. In Ludwigsburg, we are expanding our R&D capacities in diesel cold-start technology and ignition technology for gasoline engines. We are delighted that this also enables us to create several highly qualified new jobs,” commented Marco von Maltzan, chairman of the executive board.
Continental has said that it will close its Akron tyre testing centre, its last operation in the city. Around 20 people will loose their jobs with most work being transferred to Europe, the Associated Press has reported. Continental acquired the test centre in 1987 when it bought the tyre operations of the former General Tire Company. One of the main features of the test site was a large wheel that could run tyres at speeds of up to 400 miles per hour.
While contract talks between the USWA and Bridgestone/Firestone North American Tire (BFNAT) progress, the union plans to increase pressure on the tyremaker to come to an agreement, reports Tire Review.
BFNAT union workers have been working without a master contract since April 2003. The two sides have been working off the previous contract on a day-to-day basis. Talks broke off in November 2003, and did not resume again until December 2004.
Generation Y are better consumers than they are employees, according to a recent study quoted by Tire Review. Wards Auto World found that this group of employees go through jobs at an astounding rate and that they have an odd value system.
While contract talks between the USWA and Bridgestone/Firestone North American Tire (BFNAT) progress, the union plans to increase pressure on the tyremaker to come to an agreement, reports Tire Review.
BFNAT union workers have been working without a master contract since April 2003. The two sides have been working off the previous contract on a day-to-day basis. Talks broke off in November 2003, and did not resume again until December 2004.
A survey conducted by the CBI has reported that UK manufacturing firms fear that up to 26,000 jobs could be lost over the next three months. The CBI and Experian poll showed that confidence in the manufacturing industry has fallen in eight of the UK’s 11 regions over the past quarter with the north west hit hard. Despite the sharpest fall in confidence occurring with firms in the West Midlands, London and the South East are expected to bear the largest decline in manufacturing employment. The CBI states that whilst 26,000 jobs is a large figure, it is still short of the losses seen during the steep manufacturing recession of 2001 to 2003. However, the latest data from the Office for National Statistics shows a 0.6 per cent between November and December, its fastest pace in seven months.
Benecke-Kaliko AG has signed a joint venture agreement with Jiangsu Changshun International Trading Co in order to “expand production capacities considerably.” Approximately 10 million euros will be invested in a production site in the provincial town of Zhangjiagang City, 120 kilometres north west of Shanghai. The factory will produce PVC expanded sheeting and PVC leatherette for the Chinese automotive industry from mid 2006, creating 170 jobs
Local union officials at Yokohama Tire Corp’s Salem plant have agreed to a new labour agreement, guaranteeing job security for more than two years. Mike Amos, president of Local 1023 of United Steelworkers of America (USWA), told local newspapers that members voted by a three to one majority to ratify the collective bargaining agreement. He said about 80 per cent of approximately 670 members voted.
The future of western European car manufacturing is at risk unless the industry takes steps to improve its international competitiveness, a senior Ford executive has warned.
“The fact of the matter is, these days it is not a very competitive place to do business,” said Mark Fields, executive vice president of Ford’s Premier Automotive Group.
Goodyear Tire & Rubber is considering restructuring options, including the closure of North American plants, shifting work to “low-cost” countries and cutting an unspecified number of jobs, the Wall Street Journal has reported.
Three more Dundee firms have been given a cash injection from the Michelin Development Fund, pushing the total loaned to local businesses beyond £100,000. IRT, MW Plastics and Team Play Learning Dynamics (TPLD) shared a total of £68,000, which will help company development, performance and enhance long-term profitability. Working in association with Scottish Enterprise Tayside, Business Gateway, Dundee City Council’s economic development unit and The Royal Bank of Scotland, Michelin Development aims to effectively contribute to the economic regeneration and long-term prosperity of the different regions where Michelin has sites within the UK. Michelin Development Dundee’s core aims are to encourage skills and entrepreneurship able to support the long term future of the city. There is also a drive to attract inward investment and contribute towards the creation of sustainable, quality employment growth.
Goodyear Dunlop’s pan-European internet-based tyre management system, FleetOnlineSolutions which was launched to truck and bus fleet operators late last year, has been expanded. The improvements that have been made include major functionality upgrades, web-based interactive reporting and intensive training, says the tyre manufacturer. There are now more than 3,500 contracted vehicles on the system, based in three countries. FleetOnlineSolutions utilises the internet and is accessible to the customer, contracted tyre service providers and Goodyear Dunlop. All details of a customer’s tyre contract are available via the secure FleetOnlineSolutions website which also handles all reporting, invoicing and stock ordering, related to contracts. This means that whenever a customer needs tyre-related work to be carried out, it is done exactly to the specification agreed in the contract. In other words, the service-provider works precisely to each customer’s individual tyre policy and pricing structure as originally agreed with Goodyear Dunlop.
Bridgestone Corporation has announced that it will invest $160 million in building a new tyre plant. The news follows initial reports from Brazilian newspaper and the Associate Press news agency that the Japanese company was planning to spend $700 million on the project. Confirming parts of the reports, the company said Bridgestone Firestone Brasil, a wholly owned subsidiary of Bridgestone Americas Holding, Inc, would build the plant in the Brazilian state of Bahia. Construction will begin in 2005, and plans call for the plant to begin production in the second half of 2006.
According to the company, Bridgestone Firestone Brazil’s new plant will produce tyres for passenger cars and light trucks. The company says the new plant will have an initial production capacity of about 8,000 tyres a day. It will utilise state of the art production technologies and is expected to create more than 500 new manufacturing jobs and 1,200 indirect jobs in the region. The projects will increase BFBR’s capacity by roughly 25 per cent the company said.
Brazilian car production reached 2,020,704 vehicles for the period between January and November, up 20.8 per cent from the first 11 months of 2003, reflecting the country’s robust recovery from a sluggish 2003, when the economy grew less than 1 per cent. The auto industry’s trade association is predicting an output of 2.2 million vehicles by the end of 2004.
Referring to the $160 million expansion plans, Jorge Gonzalez, president, Bridgestone Firestone Latin American Operations, said: “This substantial new investment is evidence of our optimism in the strength of the Brazilian economy and our belief in our Brazilian team-mates.” Earlier reports which, were later found to be inaccurate, had suggested that the company would be willing to invest an even greater amount.
After pleas from unions to reconsider its closure plans, Continental General Tire finally closed the production side of its Mayfield plant this week. The closure will result in about 800 jobs losses. Continental announced in June that the plant would close on Dec. 31. Plant manager Hank Eisenga said the facility was scheduled to go on its standard two-week winter shutdown on Monday. The production facility will not be reopening in the new year. The end of production was a bittersweet occasion for workers who discovered that the Continental will keep on 200 workers after initially saying it would only re-employ 130.
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