Modular Suppliers Locate Near Nissan's New Mississippi Plant.(Nissan North America Inc.)(Brief Article)

Several suppliers of modular components will set up production facilities near Nissan North America's new vehicle assembly plant in Canton, Miss., the company said, marking Nissan's next step toward totally integrated vehicle assembly.

According to Emil Hassan, senior vice president, North American Manufacturing, Purchasing, Quality and Logistics, three new production plants will be built adjacent to the Nissan plant to supply it with vehicle modules and components, and four new production plants will be built within two miles of the Nissan plant in Madison County.

One new plant will be built in Vicksburg, Miss. "At our Canton plant, we'll place a major emphasis on having suppliers assemble and deliver modules and components in the same sequence as the vehicles produced on our production lines," said Hassan.

"Nissan's manufacturing operations are widely acclaimed as efficient, high-quality plants, so the use of modular assembly in sequence delivery should take those attributes to even higher levels." In addition to the initial 3,300 jobs and $930 million investment Nissan's Canton plant represents, these automotive suppliers will bring significant investments and more jobs to the state. Although many of these suppliers are still early in the planning phase, approximately $140 million is expected to be invested in new Mississippi manufacturing plants, and approximately 1,000 new jobs will be available for local employees, the company said.

CalsonicKansei North America will build two new plants in Mississippi -- a 25,000-square-foot plant adjacent to the Nissan plant in Canton and a 150,000-square-foot plant in Vicksburg. Calsonic will supply front-end modules, exhaust systems, catalytic converters and A/C plumbing to Nissan.

Johnson Controls will supply seats for the vehicles to be built in Canton. The company will build a 120,000-square-foot facility in the Canton Industrial Center. Mi-Tech Steel will process coiled steel from an 80,000-square-foot plant that will be built in the Canton Industrial Center. Systems Electro-Coating LLC. , a joint venture between PPG Industries Inc. and Jackson-based Systems Consultants Associates Inc., will apply an anti-corrosion electrodeposition primer to sheet-metal components and parts from a 125,000-square-foot plant to be built in the Canton Industrial Center.

PPG will also supply automotive coatings for the Nissan vehicles and plastic bumpers produced in Canton. T&WA will supply tire and wheel assemblies to Nissan from a new 36,000-square-foot plant to be built adjacent to the Nissan plant. Tower Automotive will supply vehicle frames from its new plant in the Canton Industrial Center. The plant will cover 160,000 square feet.

Visteon and Jackson-based Lextron Corp. through Lextron/Visteon Automotive Systems, LLC, will supply front-end modules and cockpit modules from a 97,500-square-foot plant that will be built adjacent to the Nissan plant.

Construction of new plants will begin in the third and fourth quarters of 2001. Production will begin according to the schedule required to support Nissan's vehicle launch timing. The first vehicles will be launched in Canton in the summer of 2003.

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