Michelin has ceased production at its 49-year-old truck tire plant in Ballymena, ahead of the factory’s scheduled closing. In November 2015, Michelin announced operation at the site would come to an end in April of this year due to rising energy costs and falling demand for truck tires in Europe.
The factory, which opened in 1969, is to be turned into an enterprise park comprising manufacturing, office and warehouse space, according to local media reports confirmed by Michelin.
The closing of the Ballymena plant is part of a wider restructuring of Michelin’s operations in the U.K. on growth segments of the passenger car and light truck tire and retread markets, the company said.
The restructuring plan includes an investment of more than $100 million at a plant in Dundee, Scotland to increase passenger and light truck tire capacity by 30 percent by 2020 and $25 million in its Stoke-on-Trent, England, tire and retread plant.
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