A ‘Win-Win’ for Australian manufacturing with Nissan announcing it will terminate purchasing of some accessories from Asian manufacturers and instead make its towbars, sportbars and nudge bars at it Dandenong, Victoria Casting Plant.
It’s a double win for Australia because not only will Nissan create 20 full-time jobs within its casting plant, steel and aluminium to be used in the manufacture of the accessories will be purchased from local Australian suppliers (the Asian-produced items used foreign steel and aluminium).
Nissan’s new fabrication business required a reconfiguration of its casting plant and an investment of $4.0-million in plant and equipment – required to initially produce 30,000 tow bars annually and then sportbars (for the Navara ute) and nudge bars (a light weight alternative to bull bars).
Part of the new Australian manufacturing processes at Nissan is the use of advanced robotics for polishing and finishing these accessories.
Moving production of these items ‘in-house’ has other advantages for Nissan – namely greater control of production scheduling and supply as well as removing the uncertainty of foreign currency fluctuations.
The latest announcement caps a tremendous ‘bounce-back’ for Nissan Casting in Dandenong (an outer eastern suburb of Melbourne). After some time of facing an uncertain future, earlier this year the company won important global supply contracts for Nissan’s upcoming LEAF electric vehicle, requiring the manufacture of 22,000 components each month.
