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Calsonic Kansei invests £800k in Sunderland warehousing building

Calsonic Kansei has invested £800k in establishing a 100,000 sq ft warehousing building at Doxford International Technology Park, Sunderland, which was officially opened today, Wednesday 14 January.

The building creates the fourth location for the car parts manufacturer in the city, which now occupies well over half a million square feet across Sunderland.

Cllr Paul Watson, Leader of Sunderland City Council together with Tsukasa Fuji, Chief Operations Officer, Calsonic Kansei Europe unveiled a plaque, and with Joanne Munro, Senior Manager who has led the project for Calsonic, cut a ribbon to celebrate the opening of the building and the continuing growth of the company.

James Davies, CEO and chairman of Calsonic Kansei Europe, spoke at the event, alongside John Barnett, operations director of Calsonic Kansei Sunderland, Martin Simpson, Production Control Director, Nissan Motor Manufacturing Ltd and Cllr Paul Watson all spoke at the event.

Before unveiling the plaque with Tsukasa Fuji, Cllr Watson said: “Cutting the ribbon and unveiling the plaque symbolise the start of an exciting new dimension to Calsonic’s work in Sunderland. It’s important to the city, the North East and, I believe, much further afield. I’m delighted that senior figures from Calsonic Kansei Europe are here with us this morning. It underlines the impact of the Sunderland plant on the European and global operations of the firm and the wider automotive sector.”

Calsonic Kansei has invested £4.5m in Sunderland during 2014, including an extension to its Washington plant, which attracted £660,000 from the Let’s Grow fund to extend the premises. Calsonic Kansei in 2015 will export 25% of its exhaust products manufactured at the Washington plant to the Nissan Renault group across Europe. The company has also won new business from Nissan for the Infiniti model and carried out plant refurbishment and new equipment installation during the year.

Calsonic Kansei now employs 1400 people in Sunderland. It has grown 600% in the last decade, from 180 staff in 2004 to its current headcount.

The company has three manufacturing sites within three miles of the city centre: exhaust systems at Washington, plastic components in Sunderland, and cockpit modules (dashboards) within the Nissan plant itself.

It has supplied every exhaust that has been fitted on to Nissan Sunderland manufactured vehicles since the plant opened in 1986.

Calsonic’s productivity consistently improves, and staff motivation is equally high, with absenteeism at less than two per cent and staff turnover less than 1.5 per cent. It is now in its fifth year of offering engineering apprenticeships on a yearly basis, and has invested in a graduate trainee programme.

Councillor Paul Watson, Leader of Sunderland City Council said: “Calsonic Kansei is an important company in Sunderland, which has grown significantly in recent years as Nissan and the city’s automotive sector have expanded strongly. We work closely with Calsonic to ensure it makes the most of any new opportunities for growth. It’s a fantastic example of the thriving automotive hub based at Sunderland and it’s great news that we’re celebrating the official opening of its warehousing building.”

John Barnett, operations director at Calsonic Kansei Sunderland said: “The opening of our warehousing building is an important move for us. It is our fourth site in Sunderland, which is a great vote of confidence in the city, and it means that we are in-sourcing warehousing for the first time. We are now carrying out all aspects of Calsonic Kansei activities in the Sunderland area, from manufacturing to distribution, cutting time and improving efficiency.

“We’re delighted with the quality and location of the warehousing building. The City Council’s advice and support has been valuable throughout, and we appreciate its partnership approach. They know our plans and realise how key our company and the wider automotive sector is to the region.”

The Calsonic Kansei building at Doxford Technology Park was previously occupied by 2Touch, which relocated to a building at Doxford International Business Park last year. Calsonic has agreed a six year lease for the building.

Calsonic is also offering open plan high specification office space at its Doxford operations as a sub-let to local companies. John Barnett said that this offers a fantastic opportunity for smaller companies to occupy high quality space at the city’s flagship business park.

He said: “There are great opportunities for ambitious companies to share our prestigious address, and shape the office space to suit the size and requirements of their businesses.

“This move to Doxford Technology Park is a great way for Calsonic Kansei to begin 2015, and we look forward to a busy, productive year at all our Sunderland plants.”

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