Nissin breaks ground on expansion

A Rock Spring brake manufacturer broke ground Nov. 13 on an expansion.

Nissin Brake Georgia Inc., at 216 Thacker Drive, hosted a groundbreaking for a 9,500-square-foot expansion that will house the company’s new break room and locker rooms.

The company “has grown tremendously over the last 19 years,” said Michael Watton, Nissin’s senior vice president.

The upgrades will allow Nissin to reconfigure its office space so that the offices will be clustered together, enabling the staff to utilize the space more efficiently while upgrading the locker rooms and washrooms, he said.

The expanded break room increased seating capacity by 90 to accommodate 700 employees and will include a patio.

Walker County Commissioner Shannon Whitfield congratulated Nissin’s leadership on the growth, commended their efforts to improve the working environment for employees and thanked them for the community service.

Growth over time

The expansion marks the company’s fourth since the plant broke ground in 2000 as Findlex.

The plant was established in 2000 at 43,152 square feet with 80 employees. Additions were made in 2014, 2016 and 2017, Long said.

Nissin’s headcount grew from 80 employees to 250 in 2015, to 412 in 2017 and to 542 in 2019, Long said.

Today Nissin manufactures approximately 13,000 Kunkle parts per day, Watton said. The company supplies Honda, Subaru and Club Car, a golf cart manufacturer; 80 percent of the products made are for Honda.

The “highly automated plant” runs 24 hours per day for five days each week, said Melissa Long, senior manager of human resources, corporate affairs and operations. Most of the employees work in casting, machining, assembly, quality and engineering.

Parts are manufactured from start to finish. Nissin melts aluminum ingots received from Canada, casts the molten aluminum into parts, machines the parts, uses a press to install bushings and then readies the parts for shipment.

The warehouse currently contains machines that will enable the plant to X-ray all parts that ship to Honda, Watton said.

Planned plant improvements include purchasing a new furnace in a few years.

Nissin Kogyo, headquartered in Nagano, Japan, manufactures parts for automotive braking systems. The company was founded in 1953.

Catherine Edgemon Above: On Nov. 13, from left, Walker County Chamber of Commerce President Lacey Wilson, Georgia Department of Economic Development regional project manager Taylor Kielty, Walker County Commissioner Shannon Whitfield, Northwest Georgia Joint Development Authority economic development project manager Spencer Hogg, Nissin President Keichi Kobahashi, Nissin senior manager of human resources, corporate affairs and operations Melissa Long and Michael Watton, Nissin senior vice president break ground for the plant’s expansion. Left: County leaders celebrate the expansion with the plant’s leadership over a cup of sake.