Michelin’s Dundee plant to close with loss of 845 jobs

TYRE manufacturer Michelin has confirmed it will close its Dundee factory with the loss of around 845 jobs.

Just months after production ceased at its plant in Co Antrim, the French company confirmed it will close the Scottish operation by mid-2020.

Michelin informed its Dundee workers of the decision yesterday morning, saying that the operation had become “unsuitable” in the current market conditions.

Employees have expressed both shock and dismay that they first learned of the news in the media on Monday night. The tyre manufacturer announced the plan to shut its Ballymena operation in November 2015.

Some 840 jobs have been lost in the three years since.

It’s understood some of those workers had transferred to the Dundee factory.

Opened in 1972, just three years after the Ballymena plant, the Dundee operation primarily makes 16-inch and smaller tyres for cars.

At its height it manufactured seven million car tyres per year. However, changing trends have resulted in a sharp decline in demand for such tyres.

In a statement, Michelin said: “Despite the group’s continuous efforts, and the factory employees’ dedication to making the site economically sustainable through the implementation of several action plans... the accelerated market transformation has made the plant unsuitable and its conversion is not financially viable.”