Bridgestone Americas cutting jobs at US farm tire plant

Des Moines, Iowa – Bridgestone Americas is set to lay off 118 employees at its farm tire manufacturing site in Des Moines, according to a local labour agency.

The planned layoffs were announced 5 June and are to be implemented starting early July, said the Iowa workforce development agency in a recent ‘workers adjustment and retraining notice’ (WARN).

The WARN update did not provide further details about the cuts, but Bridgestone confirmed to ERJ that the move was in response to low demand in the market.

In a 12 June statement, the group said it "regularly evaluates all aspects of its business to ensure we remain competitive and resources are allocated in a manner that best supports our business strategy."

"We have made the difficult decision to reduce positions due to demand constraints in the agriculture tire sector," the statement added.

The move, said Bridgestone, will enable the group to "operate more cost effectively in strengthening our business model and to deliver on our long-term growth potential."

Operational since 1945, the facility in Des Moines is one Bridgestone’s main sites for the production of agricultural tires.

The facility has the capacity to produce 4,000 units per day of radial and bias farm tires.