Bridgestone announces a tire plant closure in Tennessee with 700 layoffs and other reductions

[Jilly_in_VA]

Tire manufacturer Bridgestone Americas is closing its LaVergne, Tennessee, truck and bus radial tire plant and laying off 700 workers there, the company announced in a news release.

Bridgestone said the closure will help the company “optimize its business footprint” and “strengthen its competitiveness.”

In addition, Bridgestone announced capacity and workforce reductions at its Des Moines, Iowa, agriculture tire plant and additional workforce reductions in U.S. corporate, sales and operations. In Latin America, it plans reductions in workforce and production capacity in Argentina and Brazil.

“Reductions in force are impacting our corporate, sales and operations in the Americas where a realignment of staffing levels is needed in response to the challenging economic environment,” company spokesperson Emily Weaver said in an email. “Of our nearly 44,000 teammates across North America and Latin America, just under 4% of our teammates are leaving the company as part of the voluntary and involuntary workforce reductions.”

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/bridgestone-announces-tire-plant-closure-tennessee-700-layoffs-reducti-rcna189277

Does this sound like "economic improvement"? I ask you.

[underpants]

1. EO stopping this in 5...4...3...nope.

So long suckers!!!

[BamaRefugee]

2. 'MURICA! STRONGER BY THE MINUTE!

[Smooth155]

3. Oh well

[LW1977]

4. Keep feeding, pet leopards

[Sneederbunk]

5. It's all TSF's fault. See how that works.

[jmowreader]

6. Someone on Quora asked about this so I looked into it

Bridgestone had previously closed their China truck tire factory and have made huge cuts at their Iowa-based agricultural-tire factory. They seem to be getting out of the heavy-duty tire market completely.

I suspect there are three reasons for this.

Reason 1: Bridgestone has been the most expensive tire at truck stops for a long time. When I drove in 2009 they were more expensive than Michelins by about $100. The only people who were buying a lot of Bridgestones were PACCAR, Volvo Trucks North America and Daimler Trucks North America. Your truck was going out the factory door with Bridgestones on it, but you probably weren’t putting new ones back on it when it came time to change a tire.

Reason 2: The Freightliner recall. Freightliner had to recall every 2020-22 Cascadia - their on-highway truck - because the aero package on the truck was causing the steer tires to blow out. It wasn’t allowing sufficient cooling air to reach the front tires. The recall service was putting Michelins on the steer axle, and currently Michelins are the standard tire on a Freightliner.

Reason 3: Double Coin. This Chinese tire builder is eating the legacy tire builders’ lunch because of their Thailand-based factory: they automated everything except the building of tires so they can run that place with only 500 employees. As a result you can buy a virgin Double Coin for the price of a recap, and everyone who has these tires likes them.

[Prairie Gates]

7. "teammates"

I hate it here.

[Iggo]

8. "involuntary workforce reductions"

George Carlin is spinning!