Tennessee’s Nashville. In a press release, tire manufacturer Bridgestone Americas said it was closing its truck and bus radial tire plant in LaVergne, Tennessee, and laying off 700 employees.
According to Bridgestone, the closure will boost the company’s competitiveness and help it maximize its commercial footprint.
Bridgestone also announced additional personnel cutbacks in U.S. corporate, sales, and operations, as well as capacity and workforce reductions at its farm tire factory in Des Moines, Iowa. It intends to cut production capacity and personnel in Brazil and Argentina in Latin America.
According to an email from company spokesperson Emily Weaver, “force reductions 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.” As part of the company’s voluntary and involuntary personnel cutbacks, just less than 4% of our almost 44,000 teammates across North America and Latin America are quitting.
The Bridgestone Corporation’s first tire manufacturing plant in North America was located in LaVergne. About half of the employees were laid off when the company discontinued producing tires for cars and light trucks at the plant in 2009. According to Weaver, LaVergne’s United Steelworkers master union members are given preference when it comes to hiring at the company’s Russellville, Arkansas, Akron, Ohio, and Des Moines factories.