ZF Industries Expansion
ZF Industries in Gainesville was selected by Nissan to provide six-speed automatic transmissions for a platform of new, light commercial vehicles to be designed and built specifically for the North American market. The transmissions will be produced at a new facility in Industrial Park West in Gainesville and supplied to Nissan in Canton, Mississippi. Production is planned for 2010, and the expansion will include 80 additional employees.
“The nomination is an important milestone for ZF Industries and the Gainesville area,” said Elizabeth Umberson, President of the Commercial Vehicle Division for ZF North America. “The Gainesville facility has been supplying to the automotive and off-highway industries since 1987. Since then, over one million manual transmissions have been produced.”
With 320 employees in Gainesville, ZF Industries currently supplies to customers including Ford, GM, Mercedes-Benz, as well as John Deere, and posted sales of $308 million in 2006. The Nissan transmission will be the first automatic transmission produced by ZF in North America. With this new model range for light commercial vehicles and the partnership with ZF, Nissan reinforces its activities in the North American market.
“The order from Nissan is a major success for ZF and confirms our strategy to intensify business with Japanese auto makers,” states Wolfgang Vogel, member of the Board of ZF and Group Executive of the commercial vehicle and special driveline technology division.
ZF is a leading worldwide supplier of driveline and chassis technology. Headquartered in Germany, ZF is among the 15 largest automotive suppliers in the world. The company employs some 58,000 at 119 locations in 25 countries with total sales of $17.3 billion in 2007. zf.com
Related Information www.zf.com