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Bridgestone will lay off 67 hourly workers at its Bloomington, Ill. plant on March 1. With an unprecedented decline in construction — both residential and commercial — the demand for construction equipment, including tires, has evaporated, says Shawn Rasey, president of the company’s North American commercial off-the-road tire division
Because of the downturn in the economy, the slowdown in construction and the resulting lower demand for small and medium size off-the-road tires, “production must be reduced in order to better align this inventory with demand,” he explains.
“The dramatic downturn in the economy continues to plague every industry, including ours,” Rasey reports.
“Sales demand for off road tires began dropping in September 2008, the same time we began seeing a significant increase in inventory levels. We’ve made production reductions to accommodate the drop in sales — which have included eliminating discretionary overtime, reassigning teammates from parts of the plant hit by the economic slowdown to other areas of the plant, implementing a hiring freeze and cutting production days over the winter holiday — but unfortunately it hasn’t been enough,” he says.
“The decision was reached after serious consideration of all alternatives. Through natural attrition (e.g., retirements), the plant was able to avoid layoffs at the end of last year, even in the face of two major reductions in the plant’s scheduled production.”
Additionally, says Rasey, a recent investment in new curing equipment at the factory that will allow increased production for the giant tire market — and the resulting 40 jobs it created — is allowing the layoffs to affect fewer people than it would have without the curing equipment.
While still under tremendous pressure, the giant tire market has not yet experienced the same level of reduced demand as the small- and medium-size markets, he notes.
“While conscious of the current market volatility, we continue to take the longer view and invest in key segments to meet the demands of our customers,” says Rasey. “As the economy recovers, we fully expect the giant tire segment to become stronger and require the output from our capacity expansion.”
As openings at the plant occur due to attrition, the company will fill those positions from the pool of laid-off workers. “If the economy shows signs of recovery later this year,” Rasey says, the company “hopes to be in a position to begin calling teammates back to work.” That could happen within a few months, and Bridgestone expresses confidence that everyone can be called back early next year.
For more information, visit www.bridgestone-firestone.com.
