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Nissan's Decherd Plant Begins Crankshaft Forging and Announces Additional Expansion


September 2006
 Filed under: NISSAN Car News | NISSAN Headlines

$34.7 million investment will bring cylinder block casting to Tennessee

DECHERD, TENN. (Sept. 7, 2006) – Nissan North America, Inc., today officially launched crankshaft forging production at the Decherd Powertrain Assembly Plant in Decherd, Tenn. During the ceremony, Nissan executives also announced a $34.7 million capital investment to expand the plant to add cylinder block casting production in the spring of 2008.
Dan Gaudette, Nissan senior vice president of North American Manufacturing and Supply Chain Management, stated: Having the forging plant and, soon, the casting plant located next to where these key engine components will be machined and assembled is a major opportunity for Nissan North America.

Our Decherd team is recognized as a top performer among Nissan powertrain operations worldwide, he added. The continuing expansion of this plant not only supports our company’s global production strategy, but it is a vote of confidence in this team’s ability to deliver solid performance, as they have consistently done over the past nine years that they’ve been in production.

State and local officials joined Nissan employees and executives at a ceremony held at the entrance of the 63,000-square-foot forging facility. At full capacity, the facility will produce 1.1 million crankshaft forgings(1) annually for the engines manufactured in Decherd for all Nissan and Infiniti vehicles built at the company’s vehicle assembly plants in Smyrna, Tenn., and Canton, Miss. Forgings will also be exported to Nissan’s vehicle assembly plant in Aguascalientes, Mexico.

The new forging facility is located on the northeast side of the current Decherd facility, adjacent to the engine machining plant and connected via a corridor. Nissan North America invested $48 million in the crankshaft forging operation, which will reach full production in March 2007. The forging operation requires about 60 employees.

The addition of cylinder block casting(2) represents the fourth expansion of the Decherd facility since it started production in May 1997.

The $34.7 million casting project will add another 51,000 square-foot to the existing 1 million-square-foot facility. At full capacity, the facility will require 50 employees to produce 192,000 cylinder block castings annually for the 3.5-liter VQ V6 engine found in the popular Altima sedan.

This announcement is another 'win-win' for both the state of Tennessee and for Nissan," said Matthew Kisber, commissioner, Tennessee Department of Economic and Community Development. Nissan's continuing investment in Tennessee and in the skills of its workforce shows a tremendous commitment to the economic growth of our state and to the future of one of Tennessee's leading corporate citizens.
The new casting facility will be located on the north side of the Decherd Plant. Groundbreaking is scheduled for late fall 2006, with operations launching in the spring of 2008.

About Decherd Powertrain Assembly Plant
Construction of the Decherd Plant began in March 1995, and production started in May 1997 with 200 employees. Today, the workforce has grown to 1,400 employees, making the plant the largest private employer in Franklin County. The 1 million-square-foot powertrain assembly plant, which has been expanded three times since production began, is situated on 968 acres. The plant has the capacity to build 950,000 engines and 1.1 million crankshaft forgings annually. With the cylinder block casting expansion – the plant’s fourth expansion – the Decherd Plant will represent a capital investment of $682.7 million.

The Decherd plant builds all the engines for the complete line of Nissan and Infiniti vehicles manufactured in the United States. The engine lineup includes a 2.5-liter 4-cylinder, a 3.5-liter 6-cylinder, a 4.0-liter 6-cylinder and a 5.6-liter 8-cylinder. One of the engines produced in Decherd – the 3.5-liter V6 VQ – has been named to Ward’s Communications’ Ten Best Engines list for an unprecedented 12 consecutive years.

(1)A crankshaft is the main rotating shaft at the bottom of the engine. The crankshaft transforms the up-and-down movement of the pistons through connecting rods to the transmission and eventually to the driving wheels.

(2)The cylinder block is an aluminum casting that holds the crankshaft, connecting rods, pistons and camshaft. The cylinder block has numerous machined surfaces to provide a precision fit to mating parts.

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Source: Nissan

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