Nokian to halt production at tire plants in US, Russia

Nokia, Finland - Nokian Tyres plc is temporarily ceasing operations at its factories in the US and Russia in response to the global spread of Covid-19, the tire maker announced in a 26 March update.

The company said it will close its recently inaugurated US production site in Dayton, Ohio 27 March for at least two weeks.  Nokian started commercial production at the plant, which manufactures passenger car and light truck tires, earlier this month. 

In Vsevolozhsk, Russia, a production shutdown will start on 30 March and will last for a week. The Russian site rollls out15.5 million units per year of passenger car and light truck tires.

Nokian will continue supplying customers through its regional warehouses, according to the Finnish tire maker’s statement. 

On 18 March, the Finnish tire maker entered a two-week negotiation period with employees over possible temporary layoffs at its Finland operations.

Discussions concern over 1,600 people and will review layoffs of at most 90 days per employee, Nokian pointed out. 

Government restrictions on mobility during the outbreak would affect the amount of work at certain functions, the company explained.

In a subsequent update, Nokian said it had introduced temporary travel bans and moved employees to remote-working where possible. 

In Spain, Nokian has stopped construction work on its new testing centre, in Santa Cruz De La Zarza – delaying the project launch scheduled for later this year.

In the 23 March statement, Nokian went on to report that its raw material supply-chain was not being impacted by the coronavirus outbreak. 

“So far, all our raw materials suppliers operate as normal. However, we do expect delays in transportation," the tire maker said.

Nokian added that it was using ‘safety stocks’ to cover any delays and lower the risk of production disruption.