Nissan Celebrates Ten Years of Production in Decherd
Nissan North America reached a milestone recently when its powertrain assembly facility located in Decherd, Tennessee celebrated its tenth year of production. At the celebration of the decade long existence of the assembly facility, Nissan executives, state and local officials and the facilities’ employees gathered together.
The assembly facility started production on the 16th of May in 1997. From its humble beginnings, the factory is now currently being regarded as one of the biggest engine plants in all of Nissan’s facilities across the world. Currently, the facility has 1,200 employees who are tasked with assembling different engines for Nissan and Infiniti vehicles. The said facility produces 4-, 6-, and 8-cylinder engines. Aside from the engines produced for Nissan and Infiniti vehicles built in the United States, the assembly facility also produces small quantity of truck engines which are then delivered to a manufacturing facility in Barcelona, Spain.
In a year, the engine production facility can produce 950,000 engines and 1.1 million crankshaft forgings. Nissan though is still in the process of expanding this facility as it plans to task the facility with producing cylinder block castings by the spring of 2008. Other Nissan parts such as Nissan engine mounts, suspension assembly and the likes are manufactured in other facilities.
Bill Krueger, the NNA Senior Vice-President of Manufacturing, Purchasing and Supply Chain Management for the Americas, has this to say: “Throughout its 10-year history, the Decherd Plant has proven that it's a world-class operation capable of producing award-winning products. The Decherd team has good reason to be proud of their accomplishments today. The growth of this plant has been based on a solid reputation for high quality work and proven capabilities. As we celebrate a history of achievement, we also look forward to what the future will bring as we compete in the global marketplace.”
Also present at the celebration is Tennessee Governor Phil Bredesen who lauded the efforts of the plant workers and the positive impact of the facility to the State of Tennessee said: “This plant not only makes engines, but it is itself an economic engine in our state's economy. Nissan and its employees in Decherd and throughout the state have been a driving force in the development of Tennessee's automotive sector. I congratulate the entire Decherd team on 10 years of consistent growth.”
The facility first made it to the headlines when Nissan announced that they will be putting up an engine plant in Decherd. The announcement came on the 18th of January in 1991. Four years after the announcement, construction of the facility started on March 1995. Nissan invested $30 million for the original plants which occupies an area of 100,000 square feet. Currently, the facility is estimated to be worth $683 million. Throughout the ten years since its opening, the plant has been expended to increase production and it now occupies 1.2 million square foot of land area in Decherd. From its opening until today, it is reported that more than 3.8 million engines have already been produced at the said facility.
One of the most notable engines produced by the plant is the award-winning 3.5-liter VQ V6 engine. The said powerplant is the only engine to be named as one of Ward’s “Ten Best Engines” since the list was first introduced.
