Nissan's latest automotive manufacturing plant set to drive growth

Nissan is the latest U.S. automaker to take steps to expand its production capacities at its Mexican plants. According to Manufacturing.net, the company's third auto manufacturing maquiladora in Mexico recently began production and will eventually assemble 175,000 vehicles every year. The plant has already hit an all-time industry record for start operations, despite land leveling having been only 19 months prior, according to Industry Week. 

The expansion is an integral part of the company's three-year plan to achieve an 8 percent global market share, according to the site. Industry Week reported the new offshore manufacturing factory is only one aspect of the $2 billion investment in boosting the company's growth. According to the site, the growth strategy is being called "Power 88." 

The new plant, which is located in central Mexico, will have a significant impact on automotive manufacturing in the entire country. Industry Week reported Nissan already creates 1 out of every 4 vehicles assembled in the country, and this expansion will increase Mexico's annual output by 24 percent to more than 850,000. The new maquiladora will end up employing 3,000 workers at the plant alone, and more than 9,000 indirect positions. 

The main vehicle that Nissan will produce at the new plant will be the 2014 Nissan Sentra, and the company is investing in technology that would allow for the manufacturing process to more easily adapt supply capacity to consumer needs. The plant will ship autos throughout North and South America, and another plant will be developed in Brazil at the beginning of 2014, according to Manufacturing.net.

"Through months of training, [the plant's employees] have become a part of our family and now share our culture and passion for quality," said Armando Ávila, manufacturing vice president of Nissan Mexicana, according to Industry Week. "Our goal is to reach the 1-million cars milestone in the midterm."