Goodyear will close tire plant in Taiwan and built in USA

Goodyear plans to shut down its Taoyuan, Taiwan, tire production facility to cut costs.

The closure is expected to be complete July 31. About 236 workers will be laid off, according to a spokesman, who said the company will continue to maintain a sales and service operation in Taiwan because Goodyear is committed to that market.

Machinery at the plant is being moved to other, more price-competitive plants in the region, the spokesman said.

Most of the estimated 3,000 passenger, light truck and bus tires produced daily at the factory are exported to other Asian countries.

The spokesman said Goodyear has been making a concerted effort to cut cost wherever possible and shift production to less expensive countries.

At the same time the company has begun a 200,000-sq.-ft. expansion of its Lawton, Okla., tire factory. There are no details of the project.
 
Goodyear broke ground on the expansion in February. The company said it’s the first phase of a multiyear modernization.

This is the first major investment/expansion at the 32-year-old, 2 million-sq.-ft. Lawton plant since a $250 million project in 2002-2006 to add capacity for larger-diameter passenger and light truck tires.

Production capacity is listed at 66,000 units a day at the non-unionized plant, which employs 2,400.

• Goodyear range of tyres