Sumitomo Rubber in Tonawanda closes; over 1,500 without jobs

Tonawanda, N.Y. (WBEN) – Sumitomo Rubber USA, one of the region's largest manufacturers, announced Thursday it is closing its Tonawanda manufacturing facility, leaving approximately 1,550 employees without a job.

Production at the plant will cease immediately. The company plans to discuss the effects of the shutdown with union leadership beginning November 13.

The Tonawanda-based manufacturer makes automotive tires for cars, trucks, buses and motorcycles. Layoffs will include approximately 1,200 unionized hourly workers and roughly 350 salaried positions.

The Tonawanda plant was Sumitomo's only U.S.-based tire making facility.

The company said in a statement that mounting material and logistics costs, dated infrastructure, intermittent financial performance, and changing market conditions all led to the decision to close the facility. The statement said that cost-control measures, capital investments, and other improvements have not offset mounting financial losses at the facility.

All tire production at the Tonawanda facility will cease, effective immediately, with related wind down activities expected to conclude over the next 12-24 months. Future plans for the physical site have not been announced.

Thursday's closure caught several of its employees by surprise and without any type of warning.

"I loved this job, it paid good," said Deonte Sweat, a two-year employee of Sumitomo Rubber. "I still wasn't notified but I see you guys out here so I know it's the real deal. I'm very mad about this."

Longtime Sumitomo Rubber employee Gary Pelletier says he was first notified of the plant closure on Facebook.

"We were told this week we are going to shut down for too many tires in the warehouse, to cut down on their levels of tires, and come back Monday. We fell for it, we believed it, because certain tires weren't selling like our MTR tires, and we've been making them for a long time, not needing them, so they're stocked up," Pelletier said on Thursday.

"We were supposed to be over 12,000 tires per-day right now, we were at 9,000. And we were told anything over 5,000 tires per-day was profitable, and we understood the market. We were getting imports that were dumped in the country, so it was making our product to be more costly."

Pelletier blames the closure of the plant on the dumping of tires into the country from Thailand and China, and no tariffs being put on them, making the tires Sumitomo produces more costly to produce in the long-term.

Eric Dutschman, an employee at Sumitomo Rubber for nine years, says the only notification employees were given from anyone came a couple weeks ago when an informational letter from the union said they were given a week off with full pay to reduce inventory in the warehouse. He admits that was a bit fishy, at the time, but there were no other signs of a full scale closure coming.

"We've had a lot of inventory in the warehouse, more than normal," said Dutschman on Thursday. "We've kind of known we were in a little bit of trouble over the last year or so with production and whatnot, but no clue that this was coming. The first [I was] notified is I was doing some home improvements, and I saw the app pop up that says they closed the plant.

"I'm thoroughly disgusted. I have nine years here. I'm a member of our emergency response team and fire department here as well. I worked overtime on Sunday, I came in on Sunday morning for overtime. No clue that this was happening today."

Erie County Executive Mark Poloncarz also issued the following statement:

"The sudden closing of Sumitomo Rubber’s Tonawanda facility came as a complete surprise. It also appears that workers at the facility, including those in management, were unaware that a closure was imminent, at least until late last night when I also was made aware of the situation. It appears this decision was made by the Japanese owner’s board without any discussion with local and state officials about the possibility of closure.

"At no point did Sumitomo ask for any additional assistance to remain in operation, despite the fact we have always supported their efforts to succeed here in Erie County with tax incentives and assistance through the Erie County Industrial Development Agency. In fact, as a board member of the Erie County Industrial Development Agency, I supported a $1.8 million combined sales and property tax incentive in 2021 as part of Sumitomo’s then $129 million investment in the facility, as well as in 2017 a $1.2 million sale and property tax incentive package in concert with Sumitomo’s $9.7 million investment then.

"I have already spoken to Gov. Kathy Hochul and other officials about the situation, and we will continue to work with our partners to make every effort to keep the facility open and save jobs, if possible."