Last week, Michelin’s Pneu Laurent plant in Oranienburg, Germany – the company’s smallest retreading facility in Europe – produced its last retreaded truck tyre. Now the remaining 55-strong plant workforce (Michelin employed 180 people at the Pneu Laurent site a year ago) are engaged with clearing up and disassembling the most important production equipment in preparation for its installation in other Michelin plants.
On 3 November Michelin announced a series of pan-European tyre manufacturing restructuring plans designed to address the dual pressures from the on-going negative effects of the 2008 global financial crisis and the sharp increase of low-cost imports – especially in the truck and bus tyre segment. In short this means the closure of its Ballymena truck tyre plant, alongside investment in its Dundee and Stoke facilities; as well as the closure of its Pneu Laurent retreading operation in Germany; not to mention further significant investments and some closures in Michelin’s Italian tyre production plants.
In addition to closing its Ballymena truck tyre factory, Michelin has announced plans to shutter its Pneu Laurent location in Oranienburg, Germany at the end of 2016 and shift all of its activities to Michelin’s Avallon, France retreading location.
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