Promax Announces New Nissan Tier Supplier Facility

CANTON, Miss., Jan. 6, 2005 -- Promax Automotive announced today that it will open a new facility to serve automotive tier suppliers in February of 2005. "We are excited about becoming a member of the local community," said Jeff Neubecker, National Manager of 3PL operations for Promax. "There is a tremendous amount of interest in the project from the supplier base. Our customers recognize that they can quickly increase brand value and obtain cost savings by having their products closer to the assembly plant," said Neubecker. The 200,000-square-foot building is located close to Nissan's Canton, Mississippi assembly plant and will be dedicated to providing inventory and logistics services to domestic and non-domestic automotive tier suppliers. The facility also has rail service, allowing Promax to reduce logistics costs for Canadian and Mexican tier suppliers according to Neubecker.

Neubecker said that Promax will offer warehousing, sequencing, inspection, repair, kitting, and sub assembly. In the third quarter of 2005 Promax plans to include service parts packaging and crating services. Inventory processes will be driven by the newest Warehouse Management System from Manhattan Associates. The RF based system provides inventory reports to customers over the Internet, allowing suppliers to see their inventory transactions in real time from anywhere in the world. "Sequencing is also a vital component of our logistics solution," said Neubecker. "Promax is uniquely positioned to help suppliers meet the new 'Strike Zone' requirements set forth by Nissan." Strike Zone is a strictly defined body-movement area that allows a worker to complete a task in the most efficient and ergonomic manner. According to Hidetoshi Imazu, Nissan's senior vice president-Manufacturing & Industrial Engineering, the company's manufacturing engineers are currently planning to have every assembly line task performed in the strike zone, which both reduces effort and promotes efficiency.

About Promax Automotive: Headquartered in Cincinnati, the logistics company is a subsidiary of giant Itochu Corporation. Promax currently provides logistics services for several major automotive OE manufacturers and tier suppliers. For more information on Promax Canton contact Jim Haney at 601- 566-0019 (jhaney@promaxauto.com), Jeff Neubecker at 513-603-6012 (jneubecker@promaxauto.com) or Rich Doran (513) 603-6006 (rdoran@promaxauto.com).

  About Itochu: Log on to http://www.itochu.co.jp/main/index_e.html .
   About Manhattan Systems:  http://www.manh.com/ .
   About Nissan:
   http://us.nissan.clientsites.carspecs.jato.com/us.nissan/comparison.asp