Ficosa has opened a new rear view mirror factory in Cookeville, Tennessee at a cost of US$50m.
Cookeville, covering 270,000 square feet, is producing rear view systems for Nissan, Ford, Volkswagen, Fiat Chrysler and General Motors. With painting and injection processes, the plant has capacity of 4.5m rear view mirrors and will employ around 500 people. Construction started in June 2015.
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Ficosa CEO Javier Pujol said: "This new facility… allows the consolidation of key operations and enables further future growth in one of the largest automobile markets in the world, where [we have] been present since 1994. By opening these new premises we are not only improving the group's efficiency and operational capacity in the region, but also reinforcing our commitment to bring more advanced manufacturing jobs to the US."
Pujol added Cookeville strengthens the company's business alliance with Panasonic – which started in 2015 – in the United States and Mexico.
"We are boosting a plan to align the industrial strategy of Ficosa with Panasonic in the region of North America, in order to accelerate the launch of new products in the areas of connectivity, efficiency and safety. This plan allows us to support the growth of the local market and increase our capacity in R&D in mirrors, shifters and new technologies that we are developing together with Panasonic, bringing together our technological capabilities with the know-how in electronics of the Japanese company."
Last June, Ficosa North America was awarded four contracts by two American automakers to produce 8.9m rear view mirrors over five years. Three of the four orders will be produced at Cookeville and will be worth an estimated $460m. Production starts in the first quarter of 2018.
