Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. has no imminent plans to reduce production in the United States beyond what has already been announced, according to a Goodyear spokesman.
An article that appeared in this morning's edition of the Akron (Ohio) Beacon Journal stated that Goodyear is planning to slash domestic production by 15% in order to concentrate on off-shore manufacturing.
That report was inaccurate, says the Goodyear spokesman, though the company "certainly could idle capacity" if needed.
Goodyear has no imminent plans to move more production off-shore "and no plans to increase off-shore production, to my knowledge."
However, the manufacturer plans to import more tires from low-cost, foreign sources during 2003, Goodyear CEO Bob Keegan said during an October 2002 press conference.
Last fall, Goodyear announced plans to lay off 450 workers at its Union City, Tenn., plant.
"All of our North American plants must be globally competitive. If they aren't, our number one desire is to fix them."
Goodyear has 10 plants in the U.S., including facilities that produce Dunlop and Kelly brand tires, according to Modern Tire Dealer statistics, plus three factories in Canada.
