YOKOHAMA, (June 14, 2011) - Nissan Motor Co. Ltd. today announced that the Iwaki Plant in Fukushima Prefecture has achieved six million units of cumulative engine production. A ceremony was held at the plant to commemorate this milestone, attended by Masao Uchibori, the vice governor of Fukushima Prefecture, and Eiji Suzuki, the deputy mayor of Iwaki City, together with approximately 400 Nissan employees and executives, including Chief Operating Officer Toshiyuki Shiga. The six million unit milestone was achieved in 17 years and five months since the Iwaki plant commenced operations.
Construction of the Iwaki Plant was completed in 1993 and production began in January 1994. With state-of-the-art facilities for casting, processing and assembly, the Iwaki Plant is a dedicated plant for the production of V6 gasoline engines named the VQ series. A second engine facility at Iwaki started production in July 2006, featuring flexible manufacturing of multiple engines on new processing lines, based on the Nissan Integrated Manufacturing System (NIMS). The addition of this second production facility increased initial production capacity from 396,000 units to 560,000 units per annum, enabling quicker response times.
The VQ engine produced at the Iwaki Plant is a core engine in Nissan's line-up, with 2.3 to 3.7-liter variations used in twelve vehicle models including the Fuga and Skyline. Having already undergone three engine upgrades, the fourth-generation VQ-HR engine series was released in August 2006, and production of the VQ37VHR engine with the latest Variable Valve Event and Lift (VVEL) system began in June 2007. The VQ engine variants produced at the Iwaki Plant have been highly evaluated both in Japan and internationally for their excellent base performance and the approaches taken toward development. The awards the VQ has won include being placed on Ward's 10 Best Engines list for 14 straight years since the inception of this award.
The Iwaki Plant was heavily damaged by the Great East Japan Earthquake on March 11 and was forced to suspend operations. Recovery efforts made partial operations possible from April 18, and the plant's production capability was fully restored on May 17. At present, production has returned to normal. At today's ceremony marking six million engines produced, individuals who provided invaluable support for the recovery effort were invited to attend and were presented with letters of appreciation for their contributions.
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