Get an Inside Look at Nissan
If you’ve ever wondered what it takes to build a car or truck, sign up for a free tour of Nissan North America’s manufacturing plant in Smyrna.
The 5.4 million-square-foot plant sits on 884 acres and has the amazing capacity to produce 550,000 vehicles each year, including the Altima, Frontier, Maxima, Pathfinder and Xterra. The cars and trucks are assembled by about 4,400 employees and more than 1,000 robots, and a tour gives you a rare inside look at the entire process.
“The tour provides an overview of the manufacturing process beginning with rolls of steel and ending with a completed vehicle,” says Pat Vickers, senior financial analyst for Nissan North America Inc. “We use trams capable of carrying 52 people per tour around the plant. It is an entertaining, informative tour designed to showcase the commitment Nissan has made to provide a quality product.”
The tour begins with a short video about Nissan, after which visitors board a tram, where they are outfitted with safety glasses and headphones. As the tram rolls through the plant, visitors watch as vehicle hoods, doors and other parts are stamped out of raw steel. Sparks fly as robots weld parts together and vehicle bodies are assembled, spray painted, equipped with engines, and given the final touches such as bumpers, head lights, carpeting and seats.
The plant’s technology is so advanced, it takes only 24 hours to create a vehicle from start to finish – and that includes eight hours of drying time for the car’s paint job.
“The strong work ethic of our area’s citizens attracted the company here in 1982, and it has kept it running strong for more than 25 years,” Vickers says.
To sign up for the Nissan plant tour, call (615) 459-1444.
