Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. will close its tire plant in the Philippines as part of a strategy "to address uncompetitive manufacturing capacity globally," according to the company.
The action, which is expected to be completed by the end of the third quarter, will result in a reduction of approximately 500 of the company's 600 associates in the Philippines. The company's sales and marketing operations in the country will not be affected.
Goodyear says it wants to remove 15 million to 25 million units of capacity over the next two years. The closure of the plant in Las Pinas, the Philippines, will result in the reduction of nearly two million units of annual production capacity.
Production will be transferred to lower-cost plants in the company's Asia-Pacific Region.
"Due to high costs compared to other plants in the region, tires produced in the Las Pinas plant are not competitive in the marketplace," says Pierre Cohade, president of Goodyear's Asia-Pacific Region.
"This action will, in no way, disrupt our service to wholesale, retail and original equipment customers," he adds.
Goodyear has had a presence in the Philippines since 1919. It opened the Las Pinas plant in 1956. When the plant officially closes, Goodyear will have 63 tire manufacturing facilties.
The company plans to record approximately $20 million in charges associated with the closure in the third quarter of 2009, principally for non-cash asset write offs.
