Union urges Michelin to address declining output at French plants

Paris – Trade union CGT Michelin has raised concern over the outlook for certain Michelin plants in France, amid declining production volumes and unfavourable market conditions.

Production of tires and related products at the group's French facilities has more than halved over the last 12 years, said the CGT – citing a commissioned report by accountancy firm Secafi.

Most recently, it added, Michelin's France-based operations saw a 3.2% year-on-year decline in volumes in 2022 followed by a 13% year-on-year fall in 2023 – under a strategy of exiting or relocating less-profitable activities.

Of 'particular concern' is the outlook for the group's facilities in Vannes, Cholet and Joue-let-Tour, said the union's 10 Oct summary of the report-findings.

According to the CGT study, production of light vehicle tires at Cholet is expected to decline by around 40% in 2025 from a 2019 baseline. 

Cholet’s ‘Z mixing’ plant, it said, will likely lose 60% of its volume during the same period, largely due to the loss of supply to Michelin's now-closed La Roche sur Yon and Dundee factories.

Meanwhile, the report found that the Vannes facility, which manufactures metal reinforcement products for European factories, is set to lose 40% of production between 2021 and 2025.

CGT described this decline as "structural" noting that other metal reinforcement factories in Europe were also “underloaded [with] “no possibility of recovering volumes.”

Another facility within the study, the semi-finished products plant at Joué-lès-Tours, has lost “more than half of its fabric production since 2017,” continued CGT Michelin.

The “fragility” of the site’s customer portfolio, including tire plants in Cholet and Moyens Individuels de Roanne, places the unit in “a critical situation,” the report commented.

According to CGT, all three Michelin sites have seen significant cost-saving measures since 2019, with employee numbers cut by: 112, or 28% at Vannes; 368, or 28% at Cholet; and 85, or 35% at Joué-lès-Tours.

Stressing that there was an ‘urgent need’ for Michelin's top management to address the issues at these and other sites, CGT called for the introduction of new industrial models.

This, proposed the union, could include adapting the production set-ups at some sites,  towards the development of 'smaller, more flexible factories' in western Europe.

We will report further on the CGT statement and study in the Nov/Dec 2024 issue of European Rubber Journal magazine – and are requesting comment from Michelin.