bob1 said:
Suvey shmurvey, I can't open that PDF file that copperKat posted.
Here's the article:
21:38:25 July 08, 2004
Nissan hustles engineers to U.S. to aid new-vehicle quality effort
By LINDSAY CHAPPELL AND YUZO YAMAGUCHI | Automotive News
Nissan Motor Co. has dispatched about 200 engineers from Japan to address quality problems at Nissan's new assembly plant in Canton, Miss.
The engineers also are examining Nissan's car factory in Smyrna, Tenn., a component engineering center in Farmington Hills, Mich., and an unspecified number of supplier plants.
The move comes just weeks after Nissan's dismal showing in the 2004 J.D. Power and Associates Initial Quality Study of consumer perceptions of product quality. The first three nameplates launched at Canton - the Quest minivan, Titan full-sized pickup and Pathfinder Armada SUV - each scored last in their segments.
CEO Carlos Ghosn last week addressed Canton's quality issues during the Nissan shareholders' meeting in Tokyo.
"You can't expect a new plant to start to give the same level of efficiency as other plants which are 25 years old," he told shareholders.
According to the J.D. Power study, complaints about vehicles built in Canton ranged from wind noise, loose molding and brake pedal vibration to paint chips and blemishes.
The $1.4 billion Canton plant is only a year old. It was built in just two years. The assembly plant produces four all-new models using a new work force, a new U.S. engine operation and new suppliers.
Despite the quality problems, Nissan's U.S. sales are healthy. For the first five months of 2004, combined U.S. Nissan and Infiniti sales were up 28.2 percent.
But Kunihiko Shiohara, analyst at Goldman Sachs (Japan) Ltd., is alarmed. "Nissan tapped into new segments quickly," he says. "So it seems like Nissan gave quality a second priority."
