The Nissan Forklift España plant near Pamplona in Spain

Nissan Forklift España SA has invested over EUR1 million (USD1.35 million) to modernise its forklift assembly line to improve working ergonomics, flexibility and increase its production capacity by 10%. The extensive process was carried out in two phases.

The plant's annual production capacity is now about 13,000 forklifts, but, according to Nissan Forklift Europe spokesman Rene Eenhoorn, the facility is highly flexible and can be adapted to market demand.

"The decision to modernise was taken two years ago and it was executed in two phases, in anticipation of a recovery in global demand after the crisis of 2008 and 2009," Eenhoorn explains. "With the market recovery starting in 2010 and accelerating this year, we could immediately implement the new flexibility of the assembly line."

Nissan España says the modernisation process was carried out while production work continued at its plant, "without affecting quality and productivity levels".

During the first phase, a completely new mast assembly line was created to greatly increase the plant's production capacity. The company changed its assembly philosophy from "fixed positions" mast mounting to a concept of mast assembly on a moving assembly line.

In phase two, the forklift assembly line was reinstalled and a "flexible component warehouse" installed alongside the assembly line. This enabled Nissan España to stock and introduce components at the exact point of consumption during the assembly process.

The 89,000 sqm (957,988 sqft.) Nissan España plant, near Pamplona, is one of six Nissan companies in Spain. It manufactures the DX ECO-X series and the AC TECH electric models of the TX, TX4 series and the QX2 series. These forklift models represent about 90% of Nissan Forklift Europe sales.