Nissan's thrift earns Qash injection
July 1st 2007

Space and energy savings at Nissan Sunderland mean the UK takes a slice of Nissan's Qashqai consumer popularity. Brendan Coyne reports

Nissan predicts record output from its Sunderland factory this year, largely due to the success of the new Qashqai. According to Trevor Mann, Senior Vice President, Manufacturing, Purchasing and Supply Chain Management, the UK's largest automotive plant will produce 380,000 units this year, topping its previous record by 50,000 cars. This safeguards 1,000 jobs and creates 300 more.

Despite demand surging for the Qashqai (part family estate, part sports utility vehicle), Sunderland is equipped to deliver: the car takes just 10 man hours to build thanks to £130m of new tooling. Under the Nissan Integrated Manufacturing System (NIMS), Mann says lines have been shortened, reducing space and time needed to manufacture. The plant currently makes 3,500 Qashqai per week.

Freed space is used to bring key suppliers (currently Valeo, TI Automotive, Calsonic Kansei and Karmann) under the factory roof, creating new efficiencies.

"There were a lot of three tonne trucks flying around the North East to deliver 'just in time' parts," says Mann. "Now they really are 'just in time' – within shouting distance of the line. There's less road congestion in the area – and therefore less CO2." He says the move also allows suppliers to reduce costs, benefiting Nissan.

With the current trend to 'green-up', cynics might argue that cutting CO2 reductions from delivery vans makes little difference. But Nissan's progressive environmental policy has been in place at Sunderland since the mid-nineties. In 1998 it became the first plant outside Japan to obtain ISO14001 and continues to implement waste reduction and recycling initiatives: It recycles both foundry sand (5,079 tonnes since 2003) and engine coolant (583,000 litres recovered) on site.

Investment in laser welding facilities has saved 11,500 tonnes of steel since 1999.

With measures such as annual and monthly energy targets, benchmarking and 'no energy' weekends, the company claims a total reduction in CO2 output by 11% since 2001.

With energy costs soaring 90% from 2004 to 2006 to £14m a year, Nissan's six on-site wind turbines (bought secondhand and installed for £2.3m in October 2005) generate 5% of its total electricity need and are gradually paying off. Mann thinks energy prices should drop this year, which is more good news: not just for Nissan; but UK manufacturing as a whole.

More articles from Nissan Motor (GB) Limited: