Supply Chain

QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS

Photos courtesy of Nissan

A Nissan spokesperson responds to questions about the company’s supply chain issues

What do you perceive as the primary logistics advantages to your Tennessee location?

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liff Welborn, MTSU assistant professor of management and marketing, conducted this interview via e-mail with a Nissan spokesperson.

Fifty percent of the U.S. population is within 500 miles of Smyrna and 72 percent within 800 miles. Because of this location, coupled with the interstate highway network that serves middle Tennessee (I-24, I-65, and I-40) and railroad service provided by CSX that connects Nissan’s Smyrna vehicle assembly plant directly to all rail ramps east of the Mississippi, Nissan has a natural competitive advantage when it comes to delivering cars and trucks to its customers.

Which supply chain work is done in-house and which outsourced?

Nissan considers the following activities to be key supply chain functions: I strategic planning, I procurement, I bills of material establishment and maintenance, I production scheduling, I vehicle order processing, I parts ordering, I inventory management, I logistics network planning, I transportation,

warehousing, material handling, and I export operations. Generally, Nissan employees perform activities involving supply chain process planning and management, and logistics service providers handle more routine, repetitive functions primarily associated with those plans’ execution. The mix of employee-provided and purchased services continually changes depending on current business needs, available technology, and outside service provider capabilities.

I I

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Nissan’s Smyrna assembly plant covers 5.4 million square feet and produces five Nissan vehicles including the Maxima sedan, Altima sedan, Frontier pickup truck, Xterra SUV, and Pathfinder SUV. 13

NISSAN CASE STUDY

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How many Nissan employees are directly...