Goodyear plans to close Tyler, Texas, tyre plant

Akron, Ohio - Goodyear has said it plans to close its tyre manufacturing plant in Tyler, Texas, as part of its previously announced strategy to stop supplying certain segments of the private label tyre business.

The Tyler plant is one of eight US tyre plants at which the United Steelworkers union has been striking since 5 Oct. The Texas facility has estimated capacity to make 25 000 passenger and light truck tyres a day, according to the company.

Goodyear said the closing will eliminate about 1100 jobs, save about $50 million a year after taxes and result in a restructuring charge of between $155 million and $165 million after tax. The cash portion of the charges is estimated to be between $40 million and $50 million.

The closing will be timed to minimise the impact on Goodyear customers, said Jon Rich, president of Goodyear North American Tire.

When the company announced in June it would cut back its private label tyre business, it said that correlating capacity reductions in North America would be based on plant performance, capabilities, cost savings opportunity and the focus on serving customers for its North American Tire business.

Goodyear said the Tyler plant mainly manufactures small-diameter passenger tyres, a segment under pressure from low-cost imports. The company earlier announced it planned to reduce costs by more than $1000 million by 2008, including reduction in high-cost tyre manufacturing capacity.

No new formal talks have been scheduled between Goodyear and the USW. Overall, 15 000 USW members are striking at 16 Goodyear facilities in the US and Canada.

From Rubber & Plastics News (A Crain publication)

Press releasefrom Goodyear

Goodyear to take 155-165 mln usd charge on closure of US tire facility AFX via Forbes (US)