At a ceremony at the plant today to formally mark the start of construction work, outgoing general manager Trish Bailey and her successor Trevor Haines shared a shovel to cut the first sod.

“The project which has started today will allow us to increase the total capacity of the factory,” said Ms Bailey. “It will help us achieve a higher level of productivity and to reduce costs.

“We are achieving this through investment.”

Essentially to provide storage accommodation, the new extension will be used to house intermediate stock between manufacturing processes. The plan is to have the new facility fully operational by October.

Last year alone the Baldovie plant — the only car tyre manufacturing plant operated in the UK by the French-owned company — produced 7.6 million tyres.

The investment now under way and being planned for the Dundee site is aimed at swelling production to well over the nine million units a year mark, but reducing the costs of producing the tyres in the process.

Mr Haines said the aim was to improve productivity through investment. Succeeding with that objective would help secure the future of the Dundee factory within the industry in Europe.

“The key things are productivity and flexibility and these will enable us to further improve our service to the customer,” he added.

Ms Bailey, originally from Brooklyn in New York, is leaving Dundee after more than three years as factory manager and said today she had “thoroughly enjoyed” her time working and living in Tayside.

She is moving to Michelin’s HQ at Clermont-Ferrand in France to take up a senior post as industrial director for the company’s agricultural tyre operations worldwide.

Liverpool-born Mr Haines is returning to the UK after a spell working with Michelin in the US.

He has been with the firm for 24 years and prior to his move to America in 2002 worked as a manager at Michelin’s operations at Stoke-on-Trent.