Nissan is largest car manufacturer in North America and calls Tennessee home
SMYRNA, Tenn. (WVLT) — It was thirty years ago when Nissan determined to make Tennessee it’s North American headquarters. Quick forward to today, and Nissan has become the largest car manufacturer in North America.
The specs of the company’s manufacturing plant in Smyrna, Tennessee are nothing brief of amazing. With some six million square feet under roof (which means about one hundred thirteen football fields could fit inwards its facility, in case you were wondering), the company employs harshly 8,000 people. As if that isn’t enough, inbetween the Leaf, Maxima, Altima, Rogue, Pathfinder, and Infiniti QX60, the Smyrna plant produces 650,000 vehicles every year.
Break down the numbers, and that means there is a brand fresh car coming off the production line every thirty seconds.
“We run around the clock. Basically a twenty four hour operation. We embark on Sunday night and finish up on Saturday morning,” said Shawn Williams, Plant Manager of Car Production.
From begin to finish, concept to completion, the company is permanently looking for ways to improve itself, Williams said. The steel framework of the cars and SUV’s come into the building in giant rolls of steel sheeting. From there the metal is stamped and fabricated into the shapes and sizes needed to build a fresh vehicle. If an employee treating or assembling any part of the car across the manufacturing process thinks of a better, safer, more efficient way to do something, Williams said they are encouraged to let it be known. Because of that, Nissan’s employees are permanently looking for ways to make things better.
Another thing that makes Nissan unique is its capability to produce massive quantities of vehicles, while at the same time being able to be supple to meet the customer’s requests. It does this by not manufacturing in batches, rather they’ve come up with a system where they can build any of its cars all on the same assembly line, one right behind the other. The same goes for painting. The company doesn’t paint large numbers of vehicles the same color in hopes they will be dreamed. Instead, every car is painted according to customer request while it’s on the assembly line.
“We’re building an electrified vehicle here, right on the same line, directly behind a vehicle that’s an internal combustion engine vehicle. The technicians who are building one product instantly switch and build the next product, one behind the other. And you don’t see that kind of complexity in a lot of facilities,” Williams said.
Williams said the company figured out it was more efficient to build this way so there would be no down time in attempting to stop and restart the assembly line when needing to build a different car or SUV. Rather, parts are brought to the line to match what vehicle is being built while it’s being built. It’s because of this system that Nissan’s Tennessee plant is able to build so many cars so quickly.
But Williams assures that the capability to build quickly does not mean there is a lack in quality. In every step of the manufacturing process, even before manufacturing commences, safety and quality control are the fattest concentrate.
“Step one, make sure the quality is flawless coming out of the design phase. Then step two is validate that quality before we ever build a product,” he said.
So go ahead and fire up your Nissan Altima, Maxima, Leaf, Rogue, or Pathfinder. Or love the rail of the only Infiniti SUV that is not built in Japan with the QX60. Because when you do, you’re putting a Tennessean to work with a product that is Made in Tennessee.