Bridgestone cutting mgt. jobs in N. America

ERJ staff report (TB)

Nasville, Tennessee -- Bridgestone Americas is cutting about 425 management-related jobs throughout its North American activities in the coming six to nine months as it strives to streamline operations and cut costs.

The restructuring will affect employees at five key locations, Bridgestone said, including its headquarters in Nashville, Other offices affected are: retail store operations in Bloomingdale, Illinois, and Clearwater, Fla.; OE support in Novi, Michigan; and Bridgestone Bandag Tire Solutions (BBTS) in Muscatine, Iowa. All of the offices will remain open, however, Bridgestone stressed

Bridgestone said the moves will help it “become a more profitable and customer-focused business,” in part by lowering costs through the elimination of duplication and inefficiencies and by installing new management operating systems designed to “improve our efficiencies and business processes and enhancing our ability to measure business and individual performance.”

One of the firm's goals is to “harness our talent and expertise in a way that best serves the business.”

The company said it already has cut about half of the targeted 425 positions as it strives to have the new management structure in place by Jan. 1. Bridgestone said about 40 of the jobs are contractors and open positions, but it did not say what percentage of North American management-related positions the cuts represent nor what the expected cost savings are.

Bridgestone did not specify how many jobs are affected at the respective offices, except for BBTS in Muscatine, where the company is cutting 18 jobs and relocating 32 to Nashville. Bridgestone said it is relocating functions related to purchasing, marketing, finance, accounts payable, credit, business strategy and solutions group, customer service, legal, safety and members of the company-owned operations senior management team.

About 220 BBTS employees will remain in Muscatine, Bridgestone said, in functions such as: equipment manufacturing, emergency road service, human resources, retread manufacturing management, manufacturing finance, information technology developers and support, retread engineering, retread technical services and retread research and development.

From Tire Business (A Crain publication)