DENSO moves ahead with $400 million Tennessee expansion

by Talk Business & Politics staff ([email protected]) 162 views 

DENSO Manufacturing, which employs approximately 14,000 in North America and has an Arkansas plant in Osceola, is moving forward with a massive expansion at Maryville, Tenn.

The plant was announced as a $400 million investment last year and is intended to expand manufacturing lines, which would result in the creation of 500 new jobs. On Tuesday, the company broke ground on a key portion of this investment—a 186,528 square foot consolidated warehouse, located on the Maryville campus. The warehouse is due to be complete by October 2017.

“As we continue to expand, we also renew our commitment to serve our customers with our best efforts and to make important new contributions to the economic well-being of Blount County, East Tennessee and the region as whole,” said Jack Helmboldt, President and CEO of the company.

The new warehouse allows DENSO to consolidate its various warehouse operations in the Maryville area and free up manufacturing space that can be used to produce products, such as head-up displays, instrument clusters and electronic control units.

Headquartered in Kariya, Aichi prefecture, Japan, DENSO is a multibillion-dollar company with consolidated global sales for the fiscal year ending March 31, 2016, totaling $40.2 billion. The North American piece of this was $9.9 billion. The company employs 150,000 worldwide.