MONTREAL — Group Michelin has devised a strategy to reduce capital expenditure costs by 30 percent per ton of passenger tires produced at all new greenfield passenger car tire plants, compared with levels at its existing facilities, a senior official stated at a recent investors' conference in Montreal.
During an investors' presentation June 13, Investor Relations Head Valérie Magloire said the reduction will be achieved through the "purchase of less customized machinery, streamlined flows, more flexible building blocks, co-designing products and processes as well as optimized engineering processes."
Additionally, the French group will upgrade its existing plants in alignment with these solutions, to reduce unit capital expenditure costs by 15 percent.
The "differentiation of products" will remain unchanged, Michelin noted.
The Clermont-Ferrand-based group is also expecting to reduce costs by least €250m by 2020 through the use of its digital initiative, the OPE Enterprise Steering Tool.
Launched in late 2012, the OPE program is a user-oriented, supply-chain facility for both customers and Michelin network operators globally.
OPE is designed to track raw materials and semi-finished-products inventories in real time and redefine how Michelin interacts with customers.