Michelin launches cleantech park project at former German tire factory

Hallstadt, Germany – Michelin has officially started a ‘revitalisation project’ to repurpose its former tire production facility in Bamberg, Hallstadt, into a cleantech innovation park.

In a 7 June ceremony, Hubert Aiwanger, Bavarian minister of state for the economy and Michelin group president Florent Menegaux officially laid down the foundation stone of the centre, which will be dedicated to sustainable innovation.

The tire-manufacturing facility will be ‘totally reinvented’ to house “specialised companies focusing on artificial intelligence, digitalisation and sustainable mobility (hydrogen and electro-mobility),” said Michelin a press release.

The 8,000m2 facility aims to support the northern Bavarian automotive industry, by supporting technologies which help reduce CO2 emissions.

The centre, Michelin said, will bring together a unique network skills from renowned companies, start-ups and universities and research institutes such as the Fraunhofer Institute as well as the universities of Bamberg, Bayreuth and Friedrich-Alexander in Nuremberg-Erlangen.

Michelin, which will be financing the project, has earmarked €37 million for the complete overhaul of the site, which is expected to be operational by the end of 2023.

In operation since 1971, the Bamberg site manufactured 8 million tires per year, mainly 16-inch passenger car tires, the demand for which has seen a sharp decline globally.

Michelin closed the site at the beginning of 2021, citing structural changes in the market, including increasing competition from cheap imports.

This is the second Michelin site to be ‘revitalised’, following a similar reconversion programme at the French group’s production facility in Dundee, Scotland.

A similar operation is also ongoing in La Roche-sur-Yon, France, where Michelin formerly produced truck tires.