Mississippi Gaining Industrial Plants

Scrap recyclers in the state of Mississippi may see more industrial sources to draw from as a Nissan factory in Canton,  Miss., begins attracting supplier facilities.

At least 10 Tier I automotive suppliers have located manufacturing plants near the Nissan assembly plant or in neighboring counties, according to Industrial Information Resources, Houston.

Among the new plants orbiting as Nissan satellites:

-         Calsonic Kansei North America, Shelbyville, Tenn., has recently opened a 150,000 sq. ft. plant in Vicksburg, Miss. The plant will assemble and supply front-end modules and exhaust systems to the new Nissan Canton assembly plant. Calsonic Kansei is also 85% finished with construction of a 25,000 sq. ft. plant on the Nissan site in Canton. This plant should be up and running by mid-summer.

-         Yorozu America Corp., Farmington Hills, Mich., is building an 80,000 square foot plant next door to the Calsonic Kensai plant in Vicksburg, where it will supply suspension components to Nissan.

-         Lextron/Visteon Automotive Systems is building a 97,500 sq. ft. plant adjacent to the Nissan plant. Partners Lextron Corp., Jackson, Miss., and Visteon Corp., Dearborn, Mich., will make front end and cockpit modules and automotive electrical systems.

-         The Johnson Controls Inc. Auto Systems Group, Plymouth, Mich., is building a 180,000 sq. ft. plant in Canton that will make automotive seating.

-         A 36,000 sq. ft. plant is being built by Tire & Wheel Assembly (T&WA), Louisville, Ky., adjacent to the Nissan plant. The company has secured contracts to supply Mercedes-Benz’s Vance, Ala., plant, Toyota’s Princeton, Ind., truck factory, and Ford's Avon Lake, Ohio, minivan facility with wheels and wheel parts.

-         Tower Automotive, Grand Rapids, Mich., will build a 170,000 square foot facility on a 43-acre site in Canton, where it will make vehicle frames for Nissan.

-         Mi-Tech Steel, Louisville, Ky., is building an 80,000 sq. ft. plant in Canton to supply process-coiled steel.

-         Unipres USA Inc., Portland, Tenn., is building a 150,000 sq. ft. plant in Forest, Miss., that will assemble body parts trucked in from its Portland plant. The company stamps and machines automotive body parts.

-         Systems Electro-Coating LLC, Jackson, Miss., will apply electro-deposition primer to sheet metal components and parts at a plant in Canton. The facility is the result of a joint venture between PPG Industries, Inc., Pittsburgh, Pa., and Systems Consultants Associates Inc., Jackson, Miss.

-         Most recently, TKA Fabco, Windsor, Ontario, Canada, has announced that it will locate its new body panel plant in Tupelo, Miss., to supply manufacturers in the Southeast.

-         M-TEK Inc., Manchester, Tenn., expects its plant on a 35-acre site in Mississippi to be operational by mid-summer. It will supply interior trim components to Nissan.