Nissan has announced plans to add 810 jobs at its Smyrna plant in Tennessee to support a third production shift. The new shift started operations on 21 October.
This is the first time the Tennessee plant has operated three shifts since operations began nearly 30 years ago. The plant currently employs around 5,600 people. Including plans to add the 810 jobs, Nissan has add more than 2,000 manufacturing jobs in the state since mid-2011.
“Our investment in creating hundreds of new jobs demonstrates Nissan’s long-time commitment to our employees, Smyrna and the State of Tennessee,” said Vice Chairman Bill Krueger. “The dedicated workforce in Tennessee continues to build high-quality vehicles that compete and win globally, and we’re committed to ensuring this doesn’t change.”
The Smyrna plant started operations in June 1983 and currently has capacity to make 550,000 vehicles a year. It rolls out the Nissan Altima, Maxima, Pathfinder and Infiniti JX. Late this year it is scheduled to add production of the all-electric Leaf and the Leaf’s batteries. Nissan is also transferring production of the next-generation Rogue from Japan to Smyrna, starting next year. There has been speculation that Smyrna could also take over production of the Murano, also built in Japan, at the next full model change (around 2014), though there has yet been no confirmation.
The expansion of output in Tennessee is part of Nissan’s efforts to increase production of key models in the markets where they are sold. By 2015, the company aims to have 85% of all Nissan and Infiniti products that are sold in the US produced in North America. Nissan also operates a plant in Decherd, Tennessee, which makes engines, and a vehicle assembly plant in the neighbouring state of Mississippi. In August, the latest month for which data is available, Nissan lifted US vehicle production by 11.9% year-on-year to 62,712 units, primarily due to increased demand for the new Infiniti JX and Nissan Frontier. Its sales in the country rose 7.6% to 98,515 units, thanks to strong sales of the Altima, Versa, Rogue and JX.
