French tyre giant Michelin gave a huge boost to the local economy today after confirming a £52 million investment in its Dundee tyre plant.
The move is part of a major corporate restructuring that will see hundreds of jobs axed in Ireland.
The company said its Dundee site – which employs around 800 staff – will be transformed into a “state-of-the-art factory” under the five-year investment programme.
Production at the site will increase by 30% – which will take output to more than nine million tyres a year – with the introduction of new machinery capable of churning out larger tyres.
The firm is also planning to increase tyre curing capacity at Dundee with the installation of new electric presses.
A new 20,000 square metre warehouse building is currently being fitted out on site as part of the wider investment.
Details of the boost for Dundee came at the same time as Michelin announced it would close its Ballymena factory in Northern Ireland by 2018. The move will seee 860 jobs lost at that site.
The firm’s Stoke-on-Trent site is also receiving a £12 million cash injection to improve its production and logistics facilities.
The news will mean 100 news jobs across Dundee and Stoke.
However, there is bad news elsewhere in Dundee as local firm Jaydee Heating heads for administration with the likely loss of around 20 jobs.For more on this story, see Wednesday’s Courier or try our digital edition.