Denso Investing $1B In Maryville, Tennessee Expansion

The global automotive supplier will bring 1,000 new jobs to its Blount County, TN manufacturing operation.

Global automotive supplier DENSO has announced that it will expand its operations in Maryville, TN. DENSO will create approximately 1,000 jobs in Maryville and invest $1 billion to make the Blount County facility a primary manufacturing center in North America for the company’s electrification and safety systems.

DENSO Maryville Tennessee
(Photo: TNECD.com)

“This is an investment in the future of DENSO, and also the future of transportation. We are seeing dramatic shifts in the role of transportation in society, and this investment will help position us to meet those changing demands,” said Kenichiro Ito, chairman of DENSO’s North America Board of Directors and chief executive officer of DENSO International America.

With its global headquarters in Japan, DENSO has had a presence in Tennessee for nearly three decades. The company has two locations in the state — Maryville and Athens — and employs roughly 4,500 people. The Maryville campus, which is DENSO’s largest U.S. manufacturing facility, consists of four manufacturing plants on 194 acres and is Blount County’s largest employer.

DENSO produces starters, alternators, instrument clusters, safety products and a wide range of electronic components and systems for the automotive industry at its operations in Maryville. Globally, DENSO is a leading developer of electrification systems for environmentally-friendly automobiles, sophisticated functions involved in vehicle safety and security, products that connect vehicles and society and thermal systems to cool the cabin and under-the-hood components.

“Since setting roots here, DENSO has played a major role in helping Tennessee transform into an automotive production leader,” said Jack Helmboldt, president of DENSO Manufacturing Tennessee. “This investment enables us to provide new opportunities for top talent to advance the next generation of vehicles.”

With this project, DENSO will expand multiple production lines to produce advanced safety, connectivity and electrification products for hybrid and electric vehicles. These new products will radically improve fuel efficiency and preserve electric power by recovering and recycling energy, and by connecting all systems and products inside the vehicles.

Prior to this expansion, DENSO had invested approximately $2 billion in Tennessee. Japan is the leading source of foreign direct investment in Tennessee over the last 30 years. In total, Japanese businesses have investment more than $17 billion in Tennessee and employ more than 50,000.

“Tennessee is No. 1 for growth in automotive employment in the Southeast since 2011, adding over 22,000 jobs, and it is because of companies like DENSO that the automotive sector continues to have momentum in our state,” said Tennessee Department of Economic and Community Development Commissioner Bob Rolfe. “I want to thank DENSO for choosing to expand in Maryville, creating over 1,000 new jobs and investing $1 billion. DENSO is a great partner to Tennessee and I look forward to seeing its continued success in our state.”

“Attracting and retaining good companies with above average wages is one of our tenets. We applaud DENSO’s loyalty to Blount County and will do all we can to make sure it has the workforce it needs to be competitive in this worldwide economy,” said Blount County Industrial Development Board Chair Fred Lawson. “This advancement shows the commitment the Blount Partnership, the State of Tennessee economic development office, and Governor Bill Haslam have in making this area and our state one of the nation’s leaders in economic development.”

With its North American headquarters located in Michigan, DENSO employs more than 23,000 people at 28 consolidated subsidiaries and 4 affiliates across the North American region. Of these, 25 are manufacturing facilities located in the United States, Canada and Mexico. In the United States alone, DENSO employs more than 17,000 people in Alabama, Arkansas, California, Iowa, Georgia, Kentucky, Michigan, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Tennessee and Texas.

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