Volkswagen opens $40M distribution centre in Tennessee
by Canadian Manufacturing Daily Staff
The 42,000-square-metre facility will act as a parts hub for locally-built Passat sedan
HERNDON, Va.—Volkswagen Group of America, Inc. has opened a 459,000 square foot, $40-million auto parts distribution centre in Tennessee.
According to the American subsidiary of the German automaker, the new Southeast Regional Distribution Center (SERDC) in Roane County, Tenn., approximately 240 kilometres east of the Tennessee capital of Nashville, will be used for distributing auto parts for the locally-made Passat sedan to markets around the world.
The SERDC will initially be used as a redistribution centre to service warehouses before later being expanded for parts distribution, Volkswagen said.
The initial redistribution centre will support the United States, Canada, Mexico and Germany.
The SERDC marks Volkswagen’s fifth building in the United States to achieve LEED certification and the first among Volkswagen’s warehouses.
The others include Volkswagen’s Headquarters in Herndon, Va.; the Volkswagen Chattanooga Manufacturing Factory in Chattanooga, Tenn.; Volkswagen’s Electronic Research Lab (ERL) in Belmont, Calif.; and Volkswagen’s Test Center California (TCC) in Oxnard, Calif.
“Our continued investment in the U.S. market affirms that Volkswagen Group of America is dedicated to the communities in which we do business,” Volkswagen Group of America vice-president of parts and vehicle logistics Anu Goel said in a statement.
As part of that commitment, VW plans to invest more than $5-billion in North America over the next three years in new products, technologies and infrastructure.
