European Factories Of Well-known Tire Companies Shut Down

Affected by factors such as economic downturn and energy shortage, European tire factories are facing disaster, and well-known tire factories have been shut down.
According to the latest news from Melksham, UK, Goodyear has begun to close the motorcycle and racing tire factory of Cooper Tires in Melksham, and is expected to stop production completely by the end of 2023. It is reported that the reason for the closure is the downturn in the economic environment, and the closure will affect about 350 employees.
The concern is whether the plant's technology center at its European headquarters will be similarly implicated.
Regarding the announcement of the shutdown, Gavin Champion, the plant's human resources director, said: "Our Melksham site has been trying to remain competitive for quite some time, and everyone in the plant All employees are working hard to keep the factory running for a long time. However, in the current business environment, the factory is facing more and more challenges."
In addition, he also emphasized that the closure of the factory also "requires consultation with factory employee representatives. We remain fully committed to taking responsible and fair action and providing appropriate support to all affected people."
In addition to the closure of the tire factory in Melksham, Goodyear plans to phase out the Avon and Cooper racing programs, the Cooper European Technology Center (ETC), materials programs and back office positions.
Another high-profile issue is that Cooper has just renewed his race tire supply contract with the FIA's World Rally and European Rally Championships for the next three seasons. Cooper, which has serviced the international racing series since 2014, will serve the rebranded RX1 premier race car for the World Off-Road Championship, as well as the new all-electric RX2e race car, as well as the RX1 and RX3 circuits of the European Off-Road Championship.
All of these tires are manufactured at the Melksham factory. It's not clear where production of those tires will move, but Goodyear makes racing tires for GT and endurance racing at its factory in Hanau, Germany.
As for other tire businesses, it is reported that in early 2020, affected by the epidemic, Cooper began to transfer the production of car and light truck tires to the plant in Krusevac, Serbia. The plant has been in operation since Cooper acquired Avon Rubber P.L.C. in 1997.
The closure of the Melksham plant is not the first, and it certainly won't be the last. As early as in its earnings report for the second quarter of this year, Goodyear mentioned that it plans to close what it considers a "redundant" Americas Cooper tire warehouse distribution center, and as part of its integration of Cooper tires, reduce "duplicated global management personnel. ".
At the time, Goodyear said the plan would result in approximately 490 layoffs at the company's facilities worldwide, based on previously announced synergy plans, realization cost and cash rationalization payments estimates.
Perhaps the closure of Cooper’s UK factory has long been part of Goodyear’s plan, but it also mentioned the obstacles caused by the European economic environment to the continued operation of tires, which is currently affecting all tire factories in Europe. Cooper Tire Factory The high probability of shutting down is just the prelude to the stagnation of production capacity in Europe...