Michelin executives mull new projects for Romanian plants

French tyre producer Michelin, which owns three plants in Romania, is readying new projects for the Zalau-based truck tyre plant, and may also manufacture electric car tyres in Floresti in the following period, according to the company’s executive board. The company, with turnover worth around 400m euros per year in Romania, is currently employing around 3,200 people, of whom 300 at the Zalau-based RomSteel metallic cord plant, 1,400 at Silvania truck tyre plant and 1,500 at Floresti passenger car tyre. “We’re doing a lot of things in Romania, including engineering operations. We’re looking at some special projects for Zalau, but I cannot say more now. (…),” stated Pete Selleck, Michelin truck tyre unit president and member of the group’s executive board. In Romania, in late 2008 and the first months of 2009, Michelin reduced the working week to adjust production to demand. Activity was brought back to the previous level in all the plants at the end of the first quarter of 2009. As regards personnel, 109,000 employees worldwide, of whom 3,000 in Romania, Michelin managing board members say they embraced a conservation policy, by freezing hiring and cutting the total number through voluntary departures and retirement.