Goodyear to Suspend Gadsden Production a Third Time

Goodyear representatives are reported to have given news of another temporary production shutdown at the company’s Gadsden, Alabama factory. This latest shutdown, announced October 15, will be the third to take place since August.

According to local newspaper the Gadsden Times, plant communications manager Jackie Brehm Edmondson said the factory will cease production at 1pm on October 25 and resume production at 1am on November 2. Employees were notified of the shutdown on October 13.

“Because of the continuing poor economic conditions, there is low market demand for our products right now,” Edmondson said. “We are temporarily ceasing tyre production to adjust our inventories as a result of the slow market.”

Gadsden is apparently not the only Goodyear plant being affected by a weak US tyre market. The company’s facilities in Fayetteville, North Carolina, and Union City, Tennessee will also be halting production for a week at that time, said Goodyear spokeswoman Amy Brei. Furthermore, she added that Goodyear’s Lawton, Oklahoma, plant will not operate for four Sundays, starting October 26, and the company’s commercial tyre factories in Topeka, Kansas, and Danville, Virginia, experienced partial shutdowns in mid-October. “This is to adjust our work schedule to align production with reduced customer demand,” Brei said.