Jobs
Continental announced that the overhaul of its Belgian truck tyre plant at Herstal would cost 35 million Euro and result in a loss of 560 jobs. The workforce would be reduced to 200 and redundancy packages have been agreed this week. The saturated European truck tyre market had raised questions about the profitability of Herstal, which resulted in this restructuring. Truck tyre manufacture is being shifted to Eastern Europe where overheads are lower.
Nissan has made the decision to build its new Micra model at its Sunderland, UK, factory, rather than France, following approval of a 40 million Pound grant. The news is expected to secure 500 jobs at the plant and has been welcomed by the Government as evidence of Nissan’s long-term commitment to the north east. It is thought that Nissan will demand that, in the future, more of its component suppliers for cars made at Sunderland submit invoices in Euro rather than Sterling.
Korean tyre manufacturer Kumho’s production at Kwangju and Koksung had been halted by a walkout by 4,000 union members in protest at Government policies blamed for the loss of thousands of jobs throughout South Korea. Originally, a General Strike was planned from 5th July. Kumho representative, Lim Yoon, said the company would have lost $2.7m per day as a result of the strike. But – as Kumho says – further conflicts could be avoided and production is back to normal.
Next month, DaimlerChrysler is expected to reveal a restructuring plan for its Chrysler subsidiary. Industry commentators are speculating that the plan could involve job losses of up to 20,000, both blue and white collar jobs, and closure of as many as six factories over an unspecified period of time.
It has been announced that the former Kleber tyre factory at St. Ingbert in Germany will close at the end of June next year. The factory began making tyres in 1970 and ceased tyre production in 1994. Since then it has manufactured tyre components such as textile fabrics and rubber mixings. 200 jobs will be lost and the closure is part of the Michelin Group’s on-going restructuring programme to improve competitiveness.
In the UK, Pirelli Tyres Ltd has been awarded the contract to supply all wheel and tyre assemblies for the new BMW Mini. The project includes conventional and run-flat tyres from 15″ to 17″. The tyres and wheels are assembled at the company’s Burton-on-Trent factory and transported to BMW’s renovated plant at Oxford. Pirelli says that it will develop its own run-flat tyre for the contract, rather than use other manufacturers’ products, although different brands of “conventional” tyres will be supplied.
In the UK, ATS Euromaster has announced that Birmingham City centre will become home to its new National Administration & Finance Centre, creating over 150 jobs in the process. Commenting on the announcement, Roland Combes, Managing Director, said: “We want to develop our strategic base in the city of Birmingham to complement our state-of-the-art Customer Service Centre in Aston. The new facility means we will be able to provide seamless operational support for our centres, whilst continuing to deliver the best possible service to our growing UK customer base.”
Bridgestone has announced that it will build its third tyre factory in the Chonburi province, in the southeast of Thailand. They will produce radial truck tyres, about 90 per cent of which will be exported to European countries and to the USA. The plant will create about 1,000 jobs.
Michelin is to lose 473 jobs from its workforce of 2,700 at its factory in Stoke-on-Trent in the UK, mostly among those producing passenger car tyres. This is part of Michelin’s overall European strategy to improve efficiency. Michelin sees a long-term future for Stoke and this year will invest £11 million in updating the factory, which was opened in 1927.
The Phoenix consortium and BMW have signed a deal to sell Rover to Phoenix. BMW has contributed £500 million to the deal and additional finance has been obtained by American company Burdale Financial. It is expected that 2,000 jobs will be lost, which is fewer than would have been lost under the plan of Alchemy Partners who had pulled out of talks with BMW recently.
Pacific Dunlop itself is in deep water, but now also the daughter company South Pacific Tyres, which is a 50:50 joint-venture with Goodyear, going back almost 15 years, is itself experiencing big problems. The company will cut 495 of 1,865 jobs at its three Melbourne-plants and stop making truck tyres altogether. South Pacific Tyres will import 100 % of its truck tyre needs.
The image of jobs in tyre repairing and fitting is not the best in Germany. In spite of being a “job with future” and a high level of unemployment (more than 10 per cent) not enough young peoble wants to occupy the vacancies.
Automotive components group ArvinMeritor is to cut its US workforce by 30%, or 800 staff. The reason is a fall in orders from the truck industry in the USA. There are no plans for cutbacks at the company’s European facilities.
London-PowerGen CHP Ltd is to construct a new £40million combined heat and power (CHP) plant at Michelin’s UK manufacturing site in Stoke-on-Trent. The building of the site is viewed by Michelin as a vote of confidence in the plant, which is at present shredding 473 jobs from its 2700 workforce. It is anticipated that the CHP plant will be operational by the end of 2001 and will meet Michelin’s energy requirement for at least 15 years, under a long term energy supply agreement.
Cooper Tire & Rubber is cutting back on 1,100 jobs and scaling back, or shutting some 18 plants world-wide. Cutbacks at US plants in Michigan, North Carolina and Texas do not appear to affect tyre manufacture. Lay-offs at European plants have still to be confirmed and would be undertaken in consultation with employee representatives. The cutbacks come alongside announcements of record third quarter profits.
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