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Following an internal study of its American production capacity, the Cooper Tire & Rubber Co. is closing its plant in Albany, Ga. After paying $150 million to $175 million in restructuring charges for the shutdown, Cooper expects to save $75 million to $80 million per year.
About 1,400 workers will be laid off as tire manufacturing shifts to the company’s remaining U.S. plants in Findlay, Ohio; Texarkana, Ark.; and Tupelo, Miss.
“This was a difficult decision and we regret the impact it will have on our employees in Albany and the surrounding community,” says CEO Roy Armes.
“The detailed study we performed was fair, objective and conclusive that we needed to consolidate our capacity and close one of our U.S facilities,” he notes. “The government and community agencies were actively engaged and involved and offered a high level of support, but the final outcome was clear,” adds Armes.
“Cooper customers in the North American market must have competitive products of the highest quality from Cooper in order to grow and prosper in this intense market. This capacity rationalization will help us meet that demand,” he says.
The Georgia plant was acquired by Cooper in 1990.
“Employees in Albany were notified of the outcome and will be provided support as the facility winds down operations in the next 12 months. We appreciate the hard work and efforts that our employees have always demonstrated and will assist them where possible through this transition. Unfortunately, this was a very necessary action to position Cooper to compete in a global market environment,” says Armes.
Based in Findlay, the company has plants in nine other nations in addition to its American presence.
“The current state of the economy and demand for our products in the United States has caused us to rethink how we could best leverage our fixed costs,” he continues.
“We will also continue with our existing ongoing lean, six sigma, and automation initiatives to improve our cost structure throughout our operations, in addition to this capacity rationalization effort. This capacity reduction, along with improvements at our other facilities, will allow Cooper to optimize our global footprint and capitalize on current and future market opportunities,” Armes says.
For more information, visit www.coopertire.com.
