Apollo Vredestein to cut workforce, manufacture only high-performance tyres at Enschede facility

Apollo Vredestein, (AVBV) part of Apollo Tyres, an international tyre major with manufacturing units in India, the Netherlands and Hungary, today organised a meeting with its employees in the Netherlands to discuss the future of the plant in Enschede and the company’s plans to build a more sustainable business for the company in the Netherlands. AVBV intends to specialise the production in Enschede to a level where only high-performance Vredestein tyres will be produced at a profitable level.

Apollo Vredestein designs, manufactures and sells over seven million tyres each year for passenger cars, two-wheelers and commercial vans, as well as a range of agricultural and industrial tyres through its locations in Europe and the USA. The company says within the current operating environment certain tyre sizes can no longer continue being produced in Enschede at a sustainable and competitive level. It therefore intends to specialise the plant towards high-value tyres and to secure a sustainable future in the Netherlands.

The strategic aim is to specialise the Enschede plant, to an extend where AVBV will only produce agricultural tyres and high value – niche segment passenger car tyres with a short production run. The plant in Enschede will become the centre of excellence for quality, innovation and production agility.

Apollo Tyres aims to align the plant to the intended specialised and sustainable production level, will unfortunately result in AVBV having to reduce its workforce in the Netherlands by approximately 750 full-time employees, over a period of 24 months.

Benoit Rivallant, president, Apollo Vredestein in Europe said: “The operating environment for AVBV and the entire tyre industry has changed significantly over the last few years. Despite large investments made in recent years in modernising the plant, the factory employees’ dedication and continuous efforts to make the site economically viable, has proved ineffective against the accelerated market transformation and has required a strategic adaption of the site to secure it has a sustainable future in the long run.”

He further said, “After a deep analysis of the profitability and sustainability of the products currently produced in the Enschede Plant, we regrettably could not arrive at a different conclusion. We are aware that our employees and their families will face a great deal of uncertainty as a result of this difficult decision. They are a committed and dedicated workforce throughout the many years and that has strongly influenced our attempt to secure a sustainable future,”

“As a responsible employer we will comply with all statutory obligations towards our employees. We will regularly inform our employees about developments within this process and offer them all necessary support and assistance,” concluded Rivallant.