Bridgestone confirms job cuts, reduced production at Buenos Aires tire plant

Buenos Aires – Bridgestone Argentina has confirmed plans to cut jobs and production levels at its manufacturing facility in Buenos Aires.

In a 30 July statement to ERJ, the tire maker said the decision was made following ‘constant analysis’ of the macroeconomic environment in Argentina.

Ahead of the rationalisation, Bridgestone said it had presented a ‘crisis preventive plan’ (PPC) to the Argentine government.

This included communicating a “plan to decrease production in our Argentina tire plant, to focus our operations on the local market.”

With an expansion programme in 2021, Bridgestone Argentina took steps to increase productivity and employment to meet growing export demand in Latin America and the US.

Measures to increase productivity and decrease cost-of-production included shift-schedule changes and collective vacations, continued Bridgestone's statement.

However, "due to the continued challenges and lack of agreement with the local union that lasted during 2022 and 2023, the forecasted productivity was never achieved,” it explained.

As a result, Bridgestone Argentina saw foreign demand “decrease drastically” so that currently "the export level is 10% of what was planned in the past.”

The Buenos Aires operation will, therefore, now focus on producing Bridgestone and Firestone tires for local OE and replacement markets.

As a result, the tire maker said it had made “the difficult decision to take a workforce reduction at the plant.”

The Bridgestone statement did not provide further details about the job cuts or production reduction.

As reported by ERJ, local trade union Sunta has stated that 452 jobs are being eliminated at the factory.

Last year, Bridgestone said its operating income had been 'significantly impacted' by "hyperinflationary" trends in Argentina: forecasting a negative €36 million impact on earnings for 2024. 

Bridgestone’s plant in Buenos Aires employs over 1,300 people and has capacity to produce 13,700 units/day of passenger car, light truck, commercial, agriculture and earthmover tires.