Site closures at Michelin are obviously not a tradition. But not an exception either. At the turn of the 1980s, the tire manufacturer was a French giant, with 50,000 employees in France, including 30,000 in Clermont-Ferrand (Puy-de-Dôme). François Michelin reigns supreme over Auvergne, and Clermont-Ferrand is a single-industrial city, entirely devoted to the rubber lord.
July 24, 1981 marks the symbolic end of the golden age. That day, management announced that it would stop hiring. The global tire market is undergoing restructuring and we must adapt. Michelin, however, continues to shine, and to pamper its “Bibs”, the in-house workers.