I have been waiting for Michelin to close since it was first announced. And it just so happened that I found myself a job in Dundee so I was nice and close by for when the time came. Christmas came early when the world ground to a halt with the first lockdown when after a 2 week production shut down it was announced that they would not restart. Needless to say I was there in a flash, and after that naughty lock down visit I behaved myself until things eased up. And as soon as it did, the place got rinsed. I had 9 successful visits in total, a few solo and few with the usual suspects in various combinations.
The place presented itself with the usual challenges. The place was never left understaffed, we found this out the hard way on a couple of occasions having close encounters with them within days of each other, each one resulting in a good old carry on getting the fuck out of there. After this we were certain the production floor cameras were being monitored, which added to the fun of getting around past the usual defenses. We had a good run of the place, the final visit being 4 hours before the remaining few staff started back for decommissioning. I will not miss the absolute bastard of a bell that rings loud as fuck every midnight, that caused a few squeaky bum moments! Before long, the game was up and our way in was locked. By then I’d seen the lot so never bothered going back.
History and images yoinked and bastardised from a news article:
The Michelin factory in 1972.
Michelin's first Scottish plant commenced production in 1972 with it's very first tyre coming off the production line on November 6th.
Lord Provost W. K. Fitzgerald was presented with the first tyre produced at the Michelin factory at Baldovie by factory manager Thomas K. Ferguson in November 1972.
It was Scotland’s only manufacturing plant of its kind and had been opened after a small team from Michelin’s home country, France, toured potential sites for a new factory and settled on farmland near Baldovie, east of Dundee. The following year Michelin opened another plant further north in Aberdeen, however, the company’s life in the Granite City didn’t stand the test of time like its Dundee counterpart and it closed its doors just 13 years later in 1986. When Michelin Dundee was established 400 workers were taken on to their books which rose as the facility expanded and, within four years from the first tyre being made, the staff had produced five million more.
Workers celebrate five million tyres being produced at the Baldovie site in February 1976.
In 1978 the premises received its first major expansion and innovation came to the forefront with the revolutionary run-flat tyre being produced there in 1983.
Workers at the factory in December 1979.
A group of trainees at the Michelin tyres factory in October 1993.
By 2001 more closures were announced in the Michelin UK group. Factories in Burnley and Stoke shut making Dundee the only one of company’s British outposts to still be producing tyres.
In 2006 the plant erected two wind turbines which went on to generate millions of electricity units, enough to fuel thousands of homes, becoming the first Michelin factory to install the generators.
At the time of the factory’s opening, the city’s industries were still booming with Michelin becoming one of the major employers alongside NCR and Timex. The factory offered a strong and stable future for its workers, until 2009 when global revenue fell. The company cut hours and reduced production rather than lay off any of their now 800 strong workforce. The factory, however, came close to being mothballed towards the turn of the century but in the end it was granted a reprieve from the executive board in Clermont-Ferrand in France.
Buoyed by this stay of execution, the plant re-focused and an operational overhaul allowed the factory to become one of the global tyre giant’s most efficient facilities as it installing a new production line for the company’s environmentally-friendly low-rolling-resistance tyres. Over the following years the facility celebrated its 40th anniversary and, in 2016, the Queen opened a huge expansion which included new machinery and a 215,278 sq ft warehouse which boosted its production capacity by 30%.
The Queen opens an expansion to the Michelin plant in September 2016.
At the time bosses said it would secure employment in the city “for decades to come”. Despite their hopes, job security would not last for decades, in fact it would last only a few years.
In June 2017 further expansions were on the cards with First Minister Nicola Sturgeon announcing a £16.5m investment in the plant, with £4.5m of it to be from the Scottish Government. Making the announcement on a tour of the site, the first minister labelled Michelin “a global leader” and said the manufacturing industry in Scotland was “thriving”. Just 18 months later, though, the “thriving” factory was to be no more and in November 2018 it was announced that production would cease by mid 2020. It was a massive blow to almost 900 employees who worked at the site, with many having been employed there for decades.
The company claimed the closure was due to the plant being out of date, with conversion not financially viable – with there no longer the same demand for the smaller tyres the factory produced.
Michelin agreed to work alongside Dundee City Council and Scottish Enterprise to create the Michelin Scotland Innovation Parc, with the Baldovie site being developed into a new training and skills centre with the hopes of creating 850 jobs. In March the last tyre came off the production line in Dundee with the company announcing that due to the Covid-19 pandemic the plant would close ahead of schedule with all staff being paid in full up until its planned closure in June.
A pipe band accompanied Michelin workers leaving the factory after their final shifts on June 30th
The Explore:
Raw Materials Preparation Area.
There was a receiving area to go with this, but aside from loading bays and forklifts on charge there was not a great deal to see, and staff seemed to appear from this general area even at times like 2am on a Sunday morning so I stayed away from it after having a peak at the nothingness that was there. The place was frozen in time to begin with, materials stopped mid process and all machinery on standby and computers left on. This changed rapidly so I am very grateful to have seen it so early on. The first two visits the heat was unbearable inside. It took a couple of months for the place to start becoming cold inside.
One of many small workshops that were partitioned off in the middle of prep and production areas:
Production area:
The place presented itself with the usual challenges. The place was never left understaffed, we found this out the hard way on a couple of occasions having close encounters with them within days of each other, each one resulting in a good old carry on getting the fuck out of there. After this we were certain the production floor cameras were being monitored, which added to the fun of getting around past the usual defenses. We had a good run of the place, the final visit being 4 hours before the remaining few staff started back for decommissioning. I will not miss the absolute bastard of a bell that rings loud as fuck every midnight, that caused a few squeaky bum moments! Before long, the game was up and our way in was locked. By then I’d seen the lot so never bothered going back.
History and images yoinked and bastardised from a news article:
The Michelin factory in 1972.
Michelin's first Scottish plant commenced production in 1972 with it's very first tyre coming off the production line on November 6th.
Lord Provost W. K. Fitzgerald was presented with the first tyre produced at the Michelin factory at Baldovie by factory manager Thomas K. Ferguson in November 1972.
It was Scotland’s only manufacturing plant of its kind and had been opened after a small team from Michelin’s home country, France, toured potential sites for a new factory and settled on farmland near Baldovie, east of Dundee. The following year Michelin opened another plant further north in Aberdeen, however, the company’s life in the Granite City didn’t stand the test of time like its Dundee counterpart and it closed its doors just 13 years later in 1986. When Michelin Dundee was established 400 workers were taken on to their books which rose as the facility expanded and, within four years from the first tyre being made, the staff had produced five million more.
Workers celebrate five million tyres being produced at the Baldovie site in February 1976.
In 1978 the premises received its first major expansion and innovation came to the forefront with the revolutionary run-flat tyre being produced there in 1983.
Workers at the factory in December 1979.
A group of trainees at the Michelin tyres factory in October 1993.
By 2001 more closures were announced in the Michelin UK group. Factories in Burnley and Stoke shut making Dundee the only one of company’s British outposts to still be producing tyres.
In 2006 the plant erected two wind turbines which went on to generate millions of electricity units, enough to fuel thousands of homes, becoming the first Michelin factory to install the generators.
At the time of the factory’s opening, the city’s industries were still booming with Michelin becoming one of the major employers alongside NCR and Timex. The factory offered a strong and stable future for its workers, until 2009 when global revenue fell. The company cut hours and reduced production rather than lay off any of their now 800 strong workforce. The factory, however, came close to being mothballed towards the turn of the century but in the end it was granted a reprieve from the executive board in Clermont-Ferrand in France.
Buoyed by this stay of execution, the plant re-focused and an operational overhaul allowed the factory to become one of the global tyre giant’s most efficient facilities as it installing a new production line for the company’s environmentally-friendly low-rolling-resistance tyres. Over the following years the facility celebrated its 40th anniversary and, in 2016, the Queen opened a huge expansion which included new machinery and a 215,278 sq ft warehouse which boosted its production capacity by 30%.
The Queen opens an expansion to the Michelin plant in September 2016.
At the time bosses said it would secure employment in the city “for decades to come”. Despite their hopes, job security would not last for decades, in fact it would last only a few years.
In June 2017 further expansions were on the cards with First Minister Nicola Sturgeon announcing a £16.5m investment in the plant, with £4.5m of it to be from the Scottish Government. Making the announcement on a tour of the site, the first minister labelled Michelin “a global leader” and said the manufacturing industry in Scotland was “thriving”. Just 18 months later, though, the “thriving” factory was to be no more and in November 2018 it was announced that production would cease by mid 2020. It was a massive blow to almost 900 employees who worked at the site, with many having been employed there for decades.
The company claimed the closure was due to the plant being out of date, with conversion not financially viable – with there no longer the same demand for the smaller tyres the factory produced.
Michelin agreed to work alongside Dundee City Council and Scottish Enterprise to create the Michelin Scotland Innovation Parc, with the Baldovie site being developed into a new training and skills centre with the hopes of creating 850 jobs. In March the last tyre came off the production line in Dundee with the company announcing that due to the Covid-19 pandemic the plant would close ahead of schedule with all staff being paid in full up until its planned closure in June.
A pipe band accompanied Michelin workers leaving the factory after their final shifts on June 30th
The Explore:
Raw Materials Preparation Area.
There was a receiving area to go with this, but aside from loading bays and forklifts on charge there was not a great deal to see, and staff seemed to appear from this general area even at times like 2am on a Sunday morning so I stayed away from it after having a peak at the nothingness that was there. The place was frozen in time to begin with, materials stopped mid process and all machinery on standby and computers left on. This changed rapidly so I am very grateful to have seen it so early on. The first two visits the heat was unbearable inside. It took a couple of months for the place to start becoming cold inside.
One of many small workshops that were partitioned off in the middle of prep and production areas:
Production area:
