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Canton Nissan plant restarts

Nissan Motor Co., which was shut down for three days, restarted production this morning at its Canton and Smyrna, Tenn., plants.

The company stopped building vehicles because of delays in receiving a part that controls the engine.

The shutdown left 3,300 workers in Canton and 3,500 at the Smyrna site without work. Four plants in Japan also were closed, but restarted Monday.

More than 6,500 vehicles were not produced at the two plants during the delay, based on recent production levels.

Nissan spokesman Steve Parrett said the plant would be open on Saturday to build Titans and Armadas. The Altima line will operate today through Friday.

"The market demand is greater for trucks than cars," he said of the decision to add the extra day of production.

Parrett said there have not been any other decisions made about production beyond this week.

Workers at Canton produce about 5,000 Altimas, Armadas and Titans each week.

Several manufacturers that provide parts for vehicles built at Canton also stopped or severely limited production.

Kevin Logan, senior vice president at Unipres USA, said his company's workers at the Nissan plant were scheduled to report late Monday, and the Forest plant would begin operations this morning.

Unipres builds frames for the Altima in Forest and Canton, employing 172 people.

Logan, past president of the Mississippi Auto Manufacturers Association, said Monday the few suppliers he had talked with also were set to restart.

Nissan uses a just-in-time production model that keeps a limited inventory of parts on hand, so the problems with the engine part had a ripple effect on manufacturers that make parts for the vehicles.

"Our folks understood what caused the delay," said Bill Kent, vice president at PK USA, which has about 300 employees at plants in Senatobia and Tennessee that support Nissan.

"This is not the first time this has happened to them over the years," Kent said.

Suppliers have been assured the problem has been fixed and that there should not be any slowdowns in the future, he said.

Nissan would not say how much the delay cost.

Bob Neal, a senior economist with the state College Board, said it would be difficult to put a cost on the stoppage's total economic impact.

The shutdown affects more than the companies that directly supply Nissan, he said. The plant's reach includes a network of businesses that supply uniforms, produce electricity, or provide copy paper.

He said the stoppage also may have caused workers to adjust their spending habits, affecting even more businesses.

Clarion Ledger