SALEM, Va.-Yokohama Tire Corp. is phasing out 44 manufacturing jobs at its Salem plant to slow production and bring down inventory, a company spokeswoman said. The company informed the workers in late July, and expected the phase-out to be completed within a few weeks, she said. Prior to the cuts, the plant employed a total of 1,050 workers.
The layoffs will result in about a 3-percent drop in production at the Salem unit, which manufactures car and light truck tires.
In another effort to slow production, Yokohama shut the plant Aug. 1-7, the spokeswoman said.
DEARBORN, Mich.-Standard Products Co., parent of retread supplier Oliver Rubber Co., posted record sales and earnings for the fourth quarter of its 1996 fiscal year, ended June 30, and record sales for the entire year.
The company, primarily a manufacturer of original equipment automotive components, did not comment on Oliver's performance for either the quarter or full year.
For the quarter, Standard Products' earnings soared more than threefold from 1995 levels to $15.5 million on a 13.9-percent jump in sales to $303.1 million.
Company sales passed the $1 billion mark for the year for the first time, as total 1996 sales grew 13.4 percent to $1.08 billion. Net income for the year skidded 27.4 percent to $14.6 million.
MISSISSAUGA, Ontario-Goodyear Canada Inc. has assured itself of labor peace into the next millennium with the recent extension of a no-strike/no-lockout agreement with the union local at its Valleyfield, Quebec tire plant to the year 2007.
The extension, described as a ``social contract,'' was approved together with a three-year monetary contract and covers the plant's 1,300 hourly workers.
Back in June, the 238-member union local at Goodyear's tire plant in Medicine Hat, Alberta, approved a four-year labor pact that included a 50-cent increase in wages, as well as some improvements in benefits, but held the starting wage at $11.50 per hour.
Bridgestone/Firestone Inc. sold the 5 millionth tire through its Affiliated Dealer Program in July. The program, created in 1991 to address the problems of small independent dealerships, now has 823 member dealerships, BFS said.
The three largest tire makers, Bridgestone Corp., Group Michelin and Goodyear, made Fortune magazine's ``Global 500,'' a ranking of the top 500 publicly held corporations in the world, based on total sales.
Bridgestone ranked 192nd, followed by Michelin at 302 and Goodyear at 305.
Goodyear was the sole tire or automotive service franchiser to appear on Black Enterprise magazine's 1996 list of the ``20 Best Franchise Opportunities'' for African-American entrepreneurs, based on the strength of its franchisee support services, relatively low start-up costs and long-term profit potential.
In 1995, Goodyear had 27 black-owned franchises, the magazine said.