Michelin Reorganizes Manufacturing Activities

Groupe Michelin is reorganizing its industrial and service activities at its headquarters in Clermont-Ferrand, France, to strengthen its decision-making, research and development activities, the tiremaker said.

Due to the retreading crisis in Europe that has led to structural overcapacity in the production of retreaded tires, Michelin said it will close its truck re-treading workshop in Combaude by the end of 2017.

The workshop’s 330 employees will be offered an internal reclassification plan and will be redeployed at other Clermont-Ferrand facilities. The redeployment will help other plants in the Clermont-Ferrand area, which need to hire 400 production workers within the next three years. Combaude employees near retirement will also be offered voluntary early retirement plans, the tiremaker said.

A part of its industrial competitiveness strategy launched in 2013, Michelin will also invest 90 million euros by 2020 in Clermont-Ferrand to accelerate the sites into “industrial and technological centers of excellence,” the tiremaker said. The investment will allow Michelin to finance equipment and advanced processes at its Cataroux, Combaude and Gravanches sites.

With the investment, the Combaude site will support the development of new products; the Cataroux site will support the development of new production practices for racing tires and their components, and also strengthen support of R&D activities; and the Gravanches site will increase its technical nature in manufacturing high performance car and van tires.

By the end of 2018, Michelin plans to reorganize Michelin Group Engineering by creating a Manufacturing Engineering (ME) entity to be located at the Carmes site. The new engineering entity will work on improving Michelin’s development and deployment of industrial processes and develop innovative projects in conjunction with the global Technology Center in Ladoux, the tiremaker said.

Other Groupe Michelin “support” services in Clermont-Ferrand will also gradually adapt their organizations. Michelin said it will “support these changes in the context of the GPEC (jobs and skills management) negotiations with union organizations.”

The Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company has named Ryan Waldron as president of the company's Americas business unit, reporting to Chief Executive Officer and President Mark Stewart. He succeeds Steven R. McClellan, who retired on April 1.

"At Goodyear, our customers are at the center of everything we do, and in Ryan Waldron, we have a customer-centric, execution-focused business leader with a deep understanding of both the marketplace and all aspects of our business, as well as a proven track record of delivering results," Stewart said. "I am thrilled to announce him as president of Goodyear's Americas business and have enormous confidence that under his leadership, both the company and our customers will reach even greater levels of success."