Bridgestone moving Bandag unit to Nashville, cutting 18 positions

ERJ staff report (TB)

Nashville, Tennessee -- As part of an effort to restructure its North American operations, Bridgestone Americas will relocate the senior management team and other specific functions of its Bridgestone Bandag Tire Solutions (BBTS) subsidiary from Muscatine, Iowa, to the tyre maker's headquarters in Nashville.

BBTS functions that are relocating are: 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. In total, 32 BBTS employees will relocate.

Several BBTS functions will remain in Muscatine, including: 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. About 220 BBTS employees will remain in Muscatine, according to Bridgestone.

In addition, 18 positions within BBTS were eliminated, effective Nov. 15. More than 50 employees who are not relocating to Nashville have been asked to assist with the transition.

Bridgestone said it believes the change will allow the company to become a more profitable and customer-focused business, lower its costs by eliminating duplication and inefficiencies and to better harness talent and the expertise of its staff. The company also is installing new management operating systems to improve efficiencies and business processes.

“Change is always difficult, but relocating our headquarters team and certain functions to the Nashville area is the right business decision and will align our resources and people in a way that will enable us to better serve our customers,” said Kurt Danielson, president, BBTS. “Our company has a rich heritage in Muscatine, and I'm pleased that BBTS will be keeping certain business functions here and (that) we will continue to be a part of this community.”

From Tire Business (A Crain publication)