Bridgestone responds to lower tire and retread demand

Bridgestone Firestone North American Tire, LLC (BFNT) disclosed that its Bridgestone Bandag Tire Solutions (BBTS) division laid off approximately 60 members of its workforce in response to the current weakness in global business conditions that has resulted in lower truck tire and retread demand. As part of this action, BBTS closed its St. Louis, Missouri-based Oncor retread facility.

Nine positions in Muscatine, Iowa, seven positions in Nashville, Tennessee, and 23 field sales positions were eliminated immediately through a consolidation of functions and job responsibilities in the sales, marketing, finance, legal and human resources departments. Muscatine will remain BBTS’ headquarters, and the finance and marketing teams have been asked to relocate there from Nashville to further BBTS’ integration. The decision to close the Oncor facility was effective January 31, 2009, and resulted in 21 positions being eliminated. The decision was made to align BBTS under one single retread brand, Bandag. The affected full-time teammates at both BBTS and Oncor will receive outplacement services and severance pay.