Michelin’s proposed £15 million investment in upgrading the tyre tread workshop at its Dundee plant has reached a further milestone.
The French-owned company has formally approved the venture, fulfilling its previous commitment to the Dundee operation despite the UK’s vote to leave the European Union.
Factory manager John Reid said discussions are now in progress with Scottish Enterprise to secure grant support for the upgrade.
“We as a company said it would be business as usual despite the Brexit vote and signing-off the latest development is evidence of that support,” said factory manager John Reid.
“We want to go ahead with it but we hope to secure grant support from Scottish Enterprise towards the £15 million cost, and we are discussing this with the government agency at present.”
Tread is applied to tyres in the curing workshop, and 33 new electric presses are to be installed to significantly increase capacity.
The curing investment will be the first time that Michelin has deployed such technology on a large scale across its global production base.
New machines capable of building larger tyres will also be arriving.
Michelin has placed Dundee at the heart of its manufacturing operation after confirming an overall £52 million investment in the city.
The firm’s Baldovie site is being transformed into a state-of-the-art facility producing larger, low rolling resistance tyres.
It has also invested in a new 20,000 square metre warehouse, to store hundreds of thousands of tyres on site.
The overall upgrading project will raise the site’s output to around 7.5m tyres a year.
