On Schedule

Gadsden Times, November 15, 2007
Two months after work started on the Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. expansion, the project is on schedule for production to begin in the new area of the Gadsden tire plant next year, plant manager Jim Davis said.

The company broke ground Sept. 14 for the 204,000-square-foot expansion to the plant and work began the next week.

"We had a few days of rain during the early days of construction, but we've managed to catch up with our rigorous schedule," Davis said. "The construction crews and our engineering team are diligently working to ensure that we meet our deadline."

Davis said in a press release Wednesday construction of the building addition is being done in phases, with the first phase to be completed by Dec. 31.

Preparatory work for state-of-the-art equipment in component manufacturing has begun in the existing plant.

Additional tire-building equipment is scheduled for installation in the building addition in mid-February.
Company officials said at the groundbreaking ceremony that production in the expansion would begin in the second quarter of 2008.

The entire modernization project is expected to be completed by 2010, officials said.
Goodyear has filed for tax abatements with the city of Gadsden for an investment totaling $125 million, including $118 million in equipment and $7 million in building construction.

At the groundbreaking, Chris Werner, Goodyear's vice president for North American Tire Unit, said the modernization of the plant will enable Goodyear to make more competitive products and "higher-value-added" products.
The plant will continue to produce light truck radial tires, passenger tires and mini-spares.

"It's the only way we can maintain a competitive work force, competitive jobs in North America," Werner said.

Dennis Battles, president of United Steelworkers Local 12, said in an interview Wednesday that workers at the plant are excited about the expansion, especially considering the announcement by Goodyear last month that the company is stopping tire production at the Tyler, Texas, facility shortly after the first of the year.

That will mean a loss of about 600 of the 750 jobs at the plant there.

The company may be considering keeping the Tyler plant open as a mixing operation.

Battles said the plant here was in that situation in February 1999 after Goodyear announced it was ceasing tire production but would keep a mixing operation.

The company later changed direction and in October 1999 announced the plant would stay open.

"We've been in that same position," Battles said, referring to Tyler.

While company officials have not said if there will be more of an investment than $125 million, Battles said the union is "always politicking" Goodyear officials to
add investment and production lines here.

"We're always asking," Battles said.

He said the new tire machines will allow the plant to produce larger-size tires, which would allow additional lines to be added.

The state helped secured the investment here by pledging an incentive package of $30 million - $20 million from a bond issue and $10 million in training funds.

Goodyear also has announced plans for a $200 million expansion at the Fayetteville, N.C., plant.

As part of the agreement for a new three-year contract reached with the United Steelworkers in December after a three-month strike, the company has agreed to invest $550 million in Goodyear plants in North America in the next three years.