MELKSHAM, England—Goodyear has begun the process of closing the Cooper Tire & Rubber Co.'s motorcycle and race tire manufacturing plant in Melksham, citing an increasingly challenging economic environment for the move.
The move, announced by Cooper Tire Europe, is to be complete by the end of 2023, and will affect roughly 350 employees.
The plant also houses a technical center and serves as Cooper's European headquarters.
"Our Melksham site has struggled to be competitive for some considerable time and everyone involved has worked extremely hard to keep operations going for as long as possible," Gavin Champion, human resource director at the facility, said. "However, this has become increasingly challenging in the current business environment."
He emphasized that the closing is "subject to consultation" with employee representation at the facility. "... We we remain fully committed to act responsibly and fairly, and to provide appropriate support for everyone affected," he said.
The company also said it plans to phase out the Avon and Cooper motorsport programs, the Cooper European Technical Centre (ETC), material programs and back-office positions.
Cooper recently renewed its race tire supply contract with the Federation International de l'Automobile (FIA)'s World Rallycross and European Rallycross championships for the coming three seasons. Cooper, which has serviced the international series since 2014, will supply the World Rallycross Championship's renamed RX1 premier class, along with a new all-electric RX2e class, and the RX1 and RX3 fields in the European Rallycross Championship.
Those tires are made at the Melksham plant; it is unclear where production of those tires will be shifted.
The COVID-19 pandemic idled the plant in early 2020, as Cooper began moving production of car and light truck tires to its plant in Krusevac, Serbia. Cooper has operated the plant since its 1997 acquisition of Avon Rubber P.L.C.
This past August in its second-quarter earnings release, Goodyear reported that it planned to close a number of Cooper Tire & Rubber warehouse distribution centers in the Americas that it has deemed "redundant," and as part of its integration of Cooper Tire, reduce "duplicative global administrative headcount."
At the time, Goodyear said the plan will result in approximately 490 job reductions at company facilities globally, in line with previously announced planned synergies, costs to achieve and cash-rationalization payment estimates.
June 7 marked the one-year anniversary of Goodyear's acquisition of Cooper, which united the No. 3 and No. 13 tire maker in the world, in terms of global sales, as of 2020.
Ryan Patterson, Goodyear's chief operating and integration officer, told dealers then that the Akron-based tire maker is targeting early 2023 for the "full value" of the integration.
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