Simon Reevell MP Visits Tyre Manufacturers in Stoke
Oct
17
Written by:
17 October 2012
Simon Reevell, MP for Dewsbury, last week (Friday 12 October 2012) visited Michelin’s Stoke plant to gain an in-depth insight into automotive manufacturing and the challenges the industry faces.
The visit forms part of Mr Reevell’s 18 day IPT Fellowship, where he will spend five days in total with Michelin - one at Stoke visiting the commercial HQ and production facilities. The remaining four days will be split across other areas including personnel, purchasing, sales and marketing.
The aim of this Fellowship is to give the MP a robust understanding of all aspects of automotive manufacturing including the supply chain, production and finance, as well as the wider issues facing the UK economy. Mr Reevell met with Michelin staff to learn how decisions at government-level affect people directly involved in the manufacturing business. The visit gave Mr Reevell a chance to talk directly with employees and gauge their opinions on the company, motor manufacturing in general and what can be done to support the industry.
Michelin has been chosen as one of the venues for his Fellowship because of its long-standing history in the UK, having been in Stoke for 85 years. In this time, Michelin has built a rich heritage and has become a beacon of UK business by integrating itself into the local community.
Simon Reevell, who pursued a career in the military before injury forced him to retire, was elected to office in 2010 with a majority of 1,526 from 18,898 votes, making him Dewsbury’s third Conservative MP in 142 years.
Simon Reevell MP pictured with Eric Le Corre, Managing Director, Michelin
Commenting on his visit, Mr Reevell said: “It is a pleasure to visit such an impressive manufacturing facility and to see a company that is dedicated to its British workforce. I also enjoyed meeting members of that workforce to see how they contribute to the manufacturing process of a product that is sold worldwide. The importance and success of British businesses was highlighted by the Prime Minister in his speech at the Conservative conference and I look forward to seeing one of those businesses in action.”
Eric Le Corre, Managing Director at Michelin Tyre PLC, said: “We are delighted that Simon has chosen to visit Michelin as part of his Fellowship. He will get a fantastic opportunity to meet and talk to our employees, including our apprentices and really get a feel for how the company works.
“At Michelin we are doing our upmost to help the UK through a very tricky time in terms of the economy. We try to help businesses in the areas we operate through our development fund as well as taking on apprentices.
“We have seen on-going production across our UK sites, when many other companies have had to cease production altogether. Our Ballymena site recently rolled its 30 millionth tyre off the production line, which shows that through careful management businesses can still achieve in these tough times”.
For more information on Michelin, visit: www.michelin.co.uk
Photography courtesy of Phil Greig