Nissan Kyushu: The Factory Life

KANDA-MACHI, Kyushu, Japan - Media often tout going "behind-the-scenes," but at the Nissan Motor Kyushu factory the Global Media Center team followed the production line from steel rolls to shipping vessel, a five-hour process that ultimately will take vehicles all over Japan and the world.

As the video details, car production has various stages, including pressing, body assembly, painting and parts assembly, as well as robots with names inspired by anime characters, such as  "Anpanman" and "Dokin-chan," that weld two shifts a day.

The facility sources parts from the Kyushu region, along with neighboring Asian countries, and is one of Nissan's largest and most cost-efficient manufacturing sites.

Nissan makes a number of models at the facility, including the new Note compact and Rogue and X-Trail SUVs, with a production capacity of approximately 430,000 units per year.

Kyushu is key to Nissan maintaining an output level of over 1 million units in Japan annually, and along with an extensive robotics line also employs about 3,700.

The share of overall car production on Japan's southernmost island doubled from 2001 to 2011, while its longer-term potential, even in a strong yen era, has some calling the region the "Detroit of Japan."

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