Sumitomo just closed their Buffalo factory

[Rust_Belt_Pete]

Wow. I think my Dunlop motorcycle tires were made there. I guess the days of getting a "Made in USA" label on them is over. I wonder what happened?

Yes hey were. Several of my friends worked there. They ownership kept changing but it was the same union in charge.
It was an absolutely toxic and horrid and unsafe work environment. You could come in drunk and high and not get in trouble, you could o anything you wanted short of punching a manager and sometimes even that and the union would cover you.
It was an 100% a hostage situation with organized labor there. I am normally pro union but those guys really f--d it up.

 

[Rust_Belt_Pete]

The article states the company was taking government handouts and tax abatements in return for keep jobs in the area. No problem with business decisions but to close suddenly with no warnings is just a cash grab. Hopefully they can get the money back.

No, no its not. They thought that they had a professional workforce and a reasonable union. Instead they were taken hostage.

 

[NormanBuntz]

Along with Dunlop tires, I believe that factory also produced tires for the Remington brand. I ran a set of those on a 1990 Acura Legend. Maybe the plant was too costly to completely modernize? Or Sumitomo would rather pay tariffs on tires exported to the USA?

 

[CapriRacer]

I've spoken of it before, my wife works at a firm that specializes in consulting troubled companies among others things. My wife has been involved in a few plant closures which I can't name. The modern thing is to close a facility abruptly without notice and get around the WARN act by paying the employees the 60 days instead of working them. If a plant announces they are closing and keeps producing a product, workers often sabotage the product and create a huge liability.

Does anyone here want to buy a set of tires made by workers knowing they are losing their job? Pepsi has a very good reason not to keep a bottling or syrup plant open when workers know of a looming closer.

I just looked up when the factory was opened - 1923. Tire factories are very machinery intensive and it's expensive to replace old, inefficient machinery with modern, cost effective equipment. Better to start from scratch. Unfortunate, but true.

 

[Owen Lucas]

They were on a shut-down when they decided to fence off the front doors. What a nice corporate move.

This is how corporate works.

Want to resign from your position? Give them 2 weeks notice to be nice and then get walked out of the building 30 minutes after you send the email.

I bet only a handful people in the building at the highest level of management knew this was going to happen.

 

[Dave Hess]

I've spoken of it before, my wife works at a firm that specializes in consulting troubled companies among others things. My wife has been involved in a few plant closures which I can't name. The modern thing is to close a facility abruptly without notice and get around the WARN act by paying the employees the 60 days instead of working them. If a plant announces they are closing and keeps producing a product, workers often sabotage the product and create a huge liability.

Does anyone here want to buy a set of tires made by workers knowing they are losing their job? Pepsi has a very good reason not to keep a bottling or syrup plant open when workers know of a looming closer.

I agree no company doesn’t want employees tampering with a product, especially food or beverages.
Employees will get a bigger severance without the WARN noticed of 60 days.

Some older workers will retire and others will have to retrain for another career field.

Again, very unfortunate situation for 1600 employees at this tire plant.

 

[Snagglefoot]

I've spoken of it before, my wife works at a firm that specializes in consulting troubled companies among others things. My wife has been involved in a few plant closures which I can't name. The modern thing is to close a facility abruptly without notice and get around the WARN act by paying the employees the 60 days instead of working them. If a plant announces they are closing and keeps producing a product, workers often sabotage the product and create a huge liability.

Does anyone here want to buy a set of tires made by workers knowing they are losing their job? Pepsi has a very good reason not to keep a bottling or syrup plant open when workers know of a looming closer.

What’s a little pee in your Pepsi?

 

[Rmay635703]

A profit-driven business decision? Nooooooo!

From what I’m told by people familiar it was directly related to something we aren’t allowed to talk about. As it is today, the company could have limped along for years without issues waiting for a buyer.

Next years sudden changes in raw materials costs and expected supply chain disruption were viewed as unsustainable and unworkable in that region

Just as companies immediately in the last week cut wages, cut hours, cut Christmas parties, eliminated Christmas bonuses, recently to start hording raw materials, we will likely see many just close shop instead.

 

[Dave Hess]

From what I’m told by people familiar it was directly related to something we aren’t allowed to talk about. As it is today, the company could have limped along for years without issues waiting for a buyer.

Next years sudden changes in raw materials costs and expected supply chain disruption were viewed as unsustainable and unworkable in that region

Just as companies immediately in the last week cut wages, cut hours, cut Christmas parties, eliminated Christmas bonuses, recently to start hording raw materials, we will likely see many just close shop instead.

Daily Job Cuts . Com

Looks at the business closures and layoffs.

Lots of layoffs the past 24 months, especially white collar jobs.

 

[nthach]

Plenty of tire factories have opened in the US recently. Nokian and Hankook in TN, Kumho in GA, Giti in SC. And there are others I can't think of right now. Some of those weird off-brands are even made in the US, too.

Goodyear has had some problems, and a lot of people on here complain about their tires too.

In fact, Goodyear used to own the closed Sumitomo factory. The two companies supplied tires to each other as well. That relationship ended a few years ago, with Goodyear handing the factory to Sumitomo.

With more tariffs on China soon the Asian upstarts are moving to the US or Cambodia/Vietnam for less tariffs. Sumitomo Rubber has plants in Thailand and Indonesia - two places that won’t be rocked as hard with tariffs as well as Japan.

 

[nthach]

Too many factors -- all depends on the specifics of their operation and volume. Just because it makes sense for the smaller brands you mentioned, doesn't mean it'll be viable for someone with higher volume.

All those plants are within distance of the South’s auto plants - though Hankook is in TN(and near VW Chattanooga/Nissan Syrmna, Giti is in SC, it’s only hours away from Alabama, Georgia and Mississippi - Alabama being home to Honda, Hyundai(Kia’s in Georgia) and Mercedes. Mississippi has a Toyota(Blue Springs) and Nissan(Canton) plant. Those tires get shipped to a 3PL to be mounted and sequenced for assembly.

 

[SC Maintenance]

The modern thing is to close a facility abruptly without notice and get around the WARN act by paying the employees the 60 days instead of working them

This is better for the employees. They have 2 months of pay to go find a job. If they find a job right away then they can double book. Keeping people coming to work who know there gone later is just an emotional drain on everyone.

 

[Jetronic]

And Nokian is doubling production this year in Tennessee.

are you saying they just made the wrong tyres?

 

[Jetronic]

No idea about this site but I have done engineering work inside a tire manufacturing plant, including in places regular employees never have access to. The very beginning of the tire production process where the raw rubber goes through the gigantic rollers to get flattened out, is one of the nastiest places I've ever set foot. And it smells like a skunk but worse.

strange as rubber is a natural product, isn't it?

 

[Jetronic]

Yes hey were. Several of my friends worked there. They ownership kept changing but it was the same union in charge.
It was an absolutely toxic and horrid and unsafe work environment. You could come in drunk and high and not get in trouble, you could o anything you wanted short of punching a manager and sometimes even that and the union would cover you.
It was an 100% a hostage situation with organized labor there. I am normally pro union but those guys really f--d it up.

Yes, unions in the states is a strange thing. Looking out for a good work environment is their number one job.

 

[ripcord]

strange as rubber is a natural product, isn't it?

Cyanide is a natural product, too, but I don't want to be around it, LOL.

They cook/treat that natural rubber with all kinds of stuff as part of the manufacturing process. Otherwise, we'd all be driving around with multiple spares and changing tires as often as we change the oil.

 

[Jetronic]

What’s a little pee in your Pepsi?

its got electrolytes!

 

[Jetronic]

Cyanide is a natural product, too, but I don't want to be around it, LOL.

They cook/treat that natural rubber with all kinds of stuff as part of the manufacturing process. Otherwise, we'd all be driving around with multiple spares and changing tires as often as we change the oil.

so it's not actually the rubber causing the smell? I don't know, never been to a rubber plantation.

 

[ripcord]

its got electrolytes!

I've got to get around to watching that movie some day.

 

[mrsilv04]

I survived the shutdown of a company facility. We were all herded into a conference room, told what was happening, and then had to sign for our severance package paperwork before being allowed to leave the conference room.

When we got out of the conference room, the building was full of security guards. We were allowed to grab our coats and car keys, and nothing else, and were immediately escorted from the building.

I was able to make my way though the building using some less travelled corridors, and found the Director of Operations before being escorted out. Since I was the head of the facilities team, I agreed to stay on for another four months to assist in shutting the facility down. I was then allowed free movement within the facility to continue to work.

All of the other people were given a one hour time slot during the next week to come back in and clean out their offices... while being regularly "checked on" by the security officers. It was a really bad vibe. One of our programmers, an older woman, got into it with one of the security guards when she went past her allotted time period. I heard the verbal skirmish from half-way across the building. I stepped in and told the security officer to back off, and I would accept all responsibility for her actions from that point on.

We found out that the people from corporate who came in from out of town to shut the facility down had come into town using assumed names to check into a local hotel, and were intentionally driving rental cars. Really....