PARIS (July 25)—Groupe Michelin is expanding capacity for truck tires at its Tours, France, factory, partially by incorporating capacity from a factory in nearby Poitiers, which will be converted to a warehouse.
Michelin will spend $65.3 million through 2007 to expand annual capacity by about 25 percent to more than 1 million units. The investment will focus on high-value products such as super-single and low-profile tires, including the new X-1, a spokesman said.
The project will make Tours the primary source for truck tires in northern and Western Europe, the spokesman said, and more than 50 percent of the production will be exported from France.
The conversion of Poitiers will result in a job cut of about 50, while the remaining 300 or so workers will be offered jobs at other Michelin factories, the tire maker said.