Nissan Motor Company has established an export base in Thailand to supply around US$300m worth of parts a year, making the country Nissan’s second-largest parts exporting base after Japan.
The 40,000 square-metre facility is located in Laem Chabang, 130km southeast of Bangkok, and will supply parts to its manufacturing plants around the world from January 2007.
Exports from the new Thai base will equal 1,080 FEUs (forty container equivalent units) a month, including body panels and roof assemblies for the Tiida compact car, which is built in Mexico and other countries.
The parts will be procured by Nissan affiliate Nissan South East Asia Company, the group responsible for the carmaker’s purchasing and R&D in Southeast Asia, from about 90 Thai based suppliers.
“Thanks to the rapid growth of Thailand’s auto industry, the quality of Thai-made auto parts has reached global standards,” said Akihiro Ishiwatari, corporate vice president of Nissan’s supply chain management division. “This export base, which is part of our best global sourcing strategy, will enable us to increase efficiency and maintain our cost competitiveness.”
Nissan already has a smaller parts export base located in the vehicle assembly plant of Siam Nissan Automobile Company, which mainly exports in-house parts. The company established a parts export base in China in April this year, and it plans to secure a similar base in Indonesia by August 2007.