CKNA Announces Lewisburg Expansions

CKNA of Lewisburg recently announced plans for a series of expansions to its existing operations in the Lewisburg Industrial Park.
CalsonicKansei North America CKNA (formerly know as Kantus Corporation in Lewisburg), a Tier 1 Automotive Supplier with 4,000 team members and annual sales revenues of $1.5 billion in North America, with operations in California, Michigan, Mississippi, Tennessee, and Mexico, announced plans for a series of expansions to the operations in Lewisburg during a recent meeting of the Lewisburg Industrial Development Board.
CKNA stated that it will increase investment by $100 million dollars in equipment and building improvements in its Lewisburg facility. Additionally, 270 jobs will move to Lewisburg.
The movement of additional manufacturing capacity into Lewisburg is part of a corporate redesign that focuses on the creation of manufacturing Centers of Excellence.
Centers of Excellence is a manufacturing practice where CKNA will consolidate the engineering and manufacturing of similar products in centrally located facilities. This will improve the economies of scale for manufacturing and position the company for further growth. The creation of Centers of Excellence is part of a long-term strategy to maintain manufacturing competitiveness and jobs in the United States.
Starting in 2006, with a 4-year growth plan running through 2009, approximately 150 jobs will move to the Lewisburg plastics operations. Approximately 120 positions will move to the Lewisburg electronics manufacturing operation. It is anticipated that the relocation of production operations for electronics manufacturing operations will be completed by August 2007.
“We are especially excited about expansions of existing industry in Lewisburg and Marshall County,” said Lewisburg ECD Director Terry Wallace. “When we see this type of growth, it demonstrates corporate headquarters has faith in our workforce and community to produce quality products here in the United States.”