I'd been meaning to get over to Goodyear since Christmas, as I suspected they would be dismantling and shipping out all the machinery pretty quickly - the fact they were moving production to Mexico, coupled with the fact they were retaining 31 staff for decommissioning didn't bode well for much to stay for long. Unfortunately, circumstances happened and I didn't get round to boxing this one off until recently. Alas, most of the stuff had gone, or was stacked up on crates in the warehouses ready to be shipped out. I still managed to see just enough before it had all gone to make it worthwhile, however.
Other than not getting there earlier, my only other regret was to put on too many layers of clothing. It was cold and sleety outside, but my god, they don't need the heating on as hot as that! No wonder the place closed down, their gas bill must be phenomenal!
The older parts of this place had been hit up by a few people after the last round of redundancies, and those reports from a few years ago can be found on here. Unfortunately it seems the power station was missed back then and is now long gone.
History
The Goodyear site in Wolverhampton dates back to 1927, when the Ohio-based company started expanding into other countries. The first tyre was produced in December of that year, and just 18 months later had already produced one million tyres. At its height, over 4,000 workers were employed at the site.
In 1939 the factory switched to war-time production, specialising mainly in the manufacture of 5 foot aircraft tyres, weighing 355 pounds. Staff worked days 20 on, and then got just one day off.
The factory saw a steady decline in production levels from the 1980s with many rounds of redundancies being made over the years. Demolition work commenced in 2007, in order to sell off some of the land taken up by disused buildings. The iconic blue and yellow chimney sporting the Goodyear logo was demolished the following year.
From 2012, after joining forces with Dunlop, the remaining buildings were used only for mixing of rubber compounds, and retreading of tyres. Plans to fully close the site were announced in 2015, and production ceased in December of that year.
A worker at Goodyear in the 1930s
Other than not getting there earlier, my only other regret was to put on too many layers of clothing. It was cold and sleety outside, but my god, they don't need the heating on as hot as that! No wonder the place closed down, their gas bill must be phenomenal!
The older parts of this place had been hit up by a few people after the last round of redundancies, and those reports from a few years ago can be found on here. Unfortunately it seems the power station was missed back then and is now long gone.
History
The Goodyear site in Wolverhampton dates back to 1927, when the Ohio-based company started expanding into other countries. The first tyre was produced in December of that year, and just 18 months later had already produced one million tyres. At its height, over 4,000 workers were employed at the site.
In 1939 the factory switched to war-time production, specialising mainly in the manufacture of 5 foot aircraft tyres, weighing 355 pounds. Staff worked days 20 on, and then got just one day off.
The factory saw a steady decline in production levels from the 1980s with many rounds of redundancies being made over the years. Demolition work commenced in 2007, in order to sell off some of the land taken up by disused buildings. The iconic blue and yellow chimney sporting the Goodyear logo was demolished the following year.
From 2012, after joining forces with Dunlop, the remaining buildings were used only for mixing of rubber compounds, and retreading of tyres. Plans to fully close the site were announced in 2015, and production ceased in December of that year.
A worker at Goodyear in the 1930s
Starting off with the mixing plant - we found this mostly dismantled...
Mixing plant main area
Much of the mixing plant was stripped out
Below the mixing plant
The areas next to the mixing plant were also mainly empty
Let's move into the Retread facility where a bit more remains...
One of the production lines was still mainly in tact
A host of machines for various purposes were tucked at the end of line...
Moving further through the Retread plant, we find the machines that would have stripped back and prepared tyres ready to have new tread applied...
Continued...
Mixing plant main area
Much of the mixing plant was stripped out
Below the mixing plant
The areas next to the mixing plant were also mainly empty
Let's move into the Retread facility where a bit more remains...
One of the production lines was still mainly in tact
A host of machines for various purposes were tucked at the end of line...
Moving further through the Retread plant, we find the machines that would have stripped back and prepared tyres ready to have new tread applied...
Continued...
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