THE boss of the giant Michelin tyre plant in Dundee has said its French owners have provided reassurance they value the operation and ‘voted with their feet’ by approving a £15 million investment following the Brexit vote.

John Reid said Michelin gave a big vote of confidence to the Dundee facility last month by signing off a plan to upgrade the curing workshop where tread is applied to tyres, most of which are exported to Europe.

“It’s a post Brexit decision which is important for us operating in a French company largely dependent on Europe, so that was a reassuring decision for the whole team,” he said.

Around 900 people work at the Michelin plant making it one of the biggest industrial employers in Scotland. The factory plays a key role in the economy of Dundee, which has been hit hard by the deindustralisation process in recent decades.

Mr Reid’s comments will be greeted with relief across Scotland amid fears the Brexit vote could result in firms shifting activity to continental Europe to ensure access to the single market.

Concerns about the implications of the Brexit vote heightened recently after Opel said it would cut production of Vauxhall cars as it expected sales to fall in the UK.

Nissan has said it will wait until there is a clearer picture of what the UK’s relationship with the EU will be before deciding on the future of the massive plant it operates in Sunderland.

The Dundee curing workshop is being developed under an investment programme drafted in 2015 that could involve Michelin investing up to £100m by the end of 2018.

The signs are that Michelin will complete the programme in spite of concerns about the UK’s future trading relationship with the EU after it leaves the union.

“In Michelin terms in our factories we’ve been reassured that until further notice things will continue as normal,” said Mr Reid.

He said Michelin has been making good progress with the investment programme, which is intended to get the 44-year-old plant in shape to cope with expected long term developments in the global tyre market.

The plan was unveiled in November when Michelin said it would close its factory in Ballymena, Northern Ireland and direct investment to the Dundee facility and one in Stoke on Trent.

Based on recent progress Mr Reid is hopeful Michelin may decide to spend even more in Dundee when the first phase of work is complete.

“Michelin’s position is they continue to support and value the contribution of the Dundee factory, they see that as a viable factory going into the long term and they’ve voted with their feet by signing off on a big investment a couple of weeks after the Brexit vote,” said Mr Reid.

While Dundee will have to compete with other plants for investment, the factory has shown it can hold its own in recent months.

Mr Reid noted; “We are number one out of 15 plants in Europe in terms of respecting delivery schedules.”

The fall in the value of the pound against the euro since the Brexit vote has provided a boost for exporters.

Mr Reid hailed the benefits of a reform programme which has boosted the competitiveness of the plant.

Besides investment in facilities, the programme has included redesigning the jobs of shop floor employees to give them broader responsibilities covering areas such as quality, safety and production planning.

The plant operates on a 24/7 basis but supervisors are only on site during normal office hours.

“The value of us empowering them has been huge; it gets guys directly involved in decision making,” said Mr Reid.

He noted that short term absence levels have fallen to 1.8 per cent from five per cent. Employee turnover is just four per cent.

The manufacturing veteran addressed a Scottish Enterprise master class on how employers can use workplace innovation to help boost business performance in Edinburgh yesterday.

The agency ran the event to mark the launch of a workplace innovation service.

Minister for Business, Innovation and Energy, Paul Wheelhouse said: “Evidence shows that a fairly treated workforce is a more productive workforce and that’s good for individuals, good for business and Scotland’s economy.”