Milestone: Nissan Forklift Produces 200,000th Lift Truck

A Platinum II 3,500 lb Cushion IC forklift rolled off the manufacturing line in the Marengo facility in 2011 to hit the milestone only seven years after the last one.

Nissan Forklift Corporation (Marengo, IL) announced that the 200,000^th forklift rolled off the manufacturing line at its Marengo facility in 2011, a milestone that marks the production of 200,000 Nissan and Barrett branded forklift trucks.

Nissan Forklift, which is headquartered in Marengo, reported that a Platinum II 3,500 lb Cushion IC forklift was the 200,000^th lift truck to be produced since the company began manufacturing forklifts in the U.S. in 1988. The company reached the 100,000^th milestone in 2002, 14 years after beginning U.S. production of forklifts and materials handling equipment. The manufacturer’s most popular forklift model is the Cushion I.C. truck with a 5,000 lb capacity.

It took Nissan Forklift 14 years to produce the first hundred thousand forklifts, but only about half that time to produce the second hundred thousand forklifts. “This is a significant milestone for Nissan Forklift,” said Tony Salgado, vice president of manufacturing operations at Nissan Forklift Corporation. “We are very proud of our transformation over the past decade. As an organization, we have become significantly more effective and efficient in delivering value to our market, while serving and respecting our employees and the community.”

Over the past 10 ten years, Nissan Forklift has increased efficiency and decreased waste through implementing the Nissan Production Way and Customer Service Way principles as well as the Nissan Green Program. Through these initiatives, Nissan Forklift has improved labor efficiency by more than 28 percent, reduced internal quality defects by more than 66 percent, and reduced lead time on production by more than 80 percent.

In related news, the company launched the University of Nissan Forklift and its College of Technical Service on January 1. The University of Nissan Forklift’s mission is to create a state-of-the-art educational platform that establishes company service technicians and salespeople as the most highly skilled and knowledgeable material handling equipment representatives in the industry.

The curriculum-based program for the College of Technical Service offers three certification levels of achievement – apprentice, journeyman and master technician. The programs are designed to build on the knowledge base of each technician, and technicians can achieve certifications through a mix of online training, classroom instruction and ASE certification.

“Highly skilled sales and service technicians are the backbone of a dealership and are essential to gaining customer loyalty,” said Steve Cianci, director of marketing and product management at Nissan Forklift Corporation. “The University of Nissan Forklift was created to help strengthen sales and service staff through providing continued education and training.”

The newly launched University of Nissan Forklift will serve as the company’s new online training center, providing a web-based learning management system specially designed for dealership professionals seeking to enhance technical skills. The company also has plans to open a College of Sales through the University of Nissan Forklift in the future.

Nissan Forklift Corporation, a wholly owned subsidiary of Nissan Motor Company Ltd., designs, manufactures and supports a complete line of material handling equipment that delivers features resulting in greater dependability, higher productivity and lower operational costs. The company has a network of more than 100 authorized dealerships with over 225 locations across North, South and Latin America, as well as additional worldwide locations. www.nissanforklift.com