NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Bridgestone Americas Inc. is planning to close its LaVergne, Tenn., truck/bus tire plant by July 31, a decision that will impact 700 salaried and hourly employees, and undertake additional workforce reductions at its Des Moines, Iowa, farm tire plant as well as in its corporate and sales workforce.
Closing the 53-year-old factory in south-central Tennessee will remove capacity of up to 2 million truck/bus tires a year, according to data compiled by Tire Business for the annual Global Tire Report.
Bridgestone did not comment on how much the closing might eventually end up costing nor if it intends to replace the lost capacity. Bridgestone has only one other truck/bus tire plant in the U.S., a 35-year-old factory in Morrison, Tenn.
Bridgestone did not provide details as to why the LaVergne plant was singled out for closure, stating instead that the decision to shut is related to its strategic initiatives to optimize its business footprint, strengthen its competitiveness and enhance the quality of the company’s U.S. operations
As a result, the firm said, “further optimization of its business footprint and costs become increasingly essential” in order to adapt to the challenges of the current business environment.
Last summer, Bridgestone Corp. disclosed the need to reduce costs by $450 million in 2024 through various cost-saving measures across its global operations.
The LaVergne closing is part of a larger initiative to improve its business footprint and optimize costs, moves that will result in as-yet undisclosed reductions in employment and capacity for farm tires at the 80-year-old Des Moines plant along with cuts in the company’s U.S. corporate, sales and operations activities.
Bridgestone said it will work with all appropriate regulatory agencies and unions that have oversight at these facilities.
“Decisions like this are not easy because of the impact it has on our teammates and their families, and at the same time we are optimizing our business footprint for the future,” Scott Damon, CEO Bridgestone West and Group president, Bridgestone Americas, said.
“We are confident that this decision will strengthen our core business, enabling us to operate more efficiently.”