Nissan Building New Education and Training Facility Next Door to Smyrna Plant

In an effort to boost its skilled workforce and keep training for its current workforce up to standards, Nissan has begun work on a new training facility next to its Smyrna plant.

The Smyrna plant in Tennessee is the largest automotive production facility in North America. Nissan continues to add production capacity and employees at the plant and has decided to begin construction on a new training facility to augment the plant. The training facility will be about 150,000 square feet and will be where Nissan employees learn new techniques and keep their skills updated and where new employees at Smyrna are trained to get the job done.

Breaking ground on the new plant, Nissan teamed with the State of Tennessee, including Governor Bill Haslam and Board of Regents Chancellor John Morgan, in a public-private partnership to bring even more jobs to the state. The facility is expected to be operational by late 2016 and will be an extension of the Tennessee College of Applied Technology (TCAT) campus in Murfreesboro. Nissan and Murfreesboro TCAT will occupy the facility jointly.

José Muñoz, executive vice president, Nissan Motor Co., Ltd. and chairman, Nissan North America, joined Gov. Haslam, Chancellor Morgan and other state and local officials to mark the start of construction.

"Nissan's success in Tennessee for more than 30 years is due in large part to our ability to recruit and retain a quality workforce of more than 12,000 employees working at the company's operations in Smyrna, Franklin and Decherd," Muñoz said. "This new training center is a key component to the long-term sustainability and continued growth of our business in Tennessee and another testament to the State's commitment to advancing business through education."

The center will be a "pipeline" of skilled workers for Nissan's Tennessee operations and will give current and prospective employees a chance to learn valuable skills in advanced manufacturing. TCAT will benefit by having a state-of-the-art facility to show students the same skills in the real world.

Nissan's Tennessee operations include the Smyrna assembly plant, two powertrain plants in Decherd, and the company's North American headquarters in Franklin. Smyrna alone has produced more than 600,000 vehicles this year (through November). Nissan has added more than 5,000 jobs in Tennessee since 2011.