Dive Brief:
- Bridgestone Americas is laying off 118 workers at its Des Moines, Iowa, plant as the company navigates lower demand in its agricultural tire sector, according to a company statement to Manufacturing Dive.
- The tire manufacturer announced the layoffs on June 5, with cuts taking effect July 5, according to an Iowa Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act notice.
- Employees at the plant are represented by the United Steelworkers Union Local 310L, which confirmed that those impacted by the layoffs have two years or less of seniority at the factory.
Dive Insight:
The Bridgestone Firestone factory, which first opened in 1945, produces tires for agricultural, construction, forestry and off-road uses. The company boasted on its social media in 2016 that the plant is largest farm tire manufacturing facility in the world.
The plant is part of Bridgestone's expansive U.S. manufacturing network, with 19 factories across 11 states.
The company, however, has been contending with falling truck and bus tire demand in North America, Europe and China. Global CEO Shuichi Ishibashi noted on a February earnings call that the company's top priority this year was to "improve and reinforce business quality."
Ishibashi added that the company saw higher production costs in Q1 as a result of rising raw material, labor and energy prices. Demand in North America was down 18% year over year and down 15% YoY globally.
Multiple agricultural machinery manufacturers are laying off workers in Iowa amid a widespread slowdown in tractor demand.
Deere & Co. has laid off hundreds of workers from factories throughout the state this year, recently including 190 production workers at its Waterloo, Iowa, operations. The company plans to strategically underproduce agricultural machinery in the second half of the year after seeing a 15% YoY drop in sales in Q2.
Farmers are cutting back on equipment and other discretionary spending as they delay planting due to weather concerns. The Department of Agriculture is now forecasting net farm income to drop by 25.5% this year compared to 2023, down to $116.1 billion.
