by Philip Salama-West
The Nissan Casting Australia Plant, which is located in Dandenong South and employs 192 staff and contractors, has officially earned Australian Made status.
To achieve the famous Australian Made certification, the majority of a manufacturer’s products must undergo a significant ‘final transformation’ within Australia, such as turning a raw material into a finished product, ready for sale.
All of the products produced by the plant are now officially marked as Australian Made.
The plant creates a multitude of automotive components within Australia for export to countries across the world such as the United States, Mexico and especially Japan.
The Nissan Casting Plant has been operating in Dandenong South since 1982 and has proven one of the area’s most significant automotive manufacturers, operating five days a week.
The continued success of the automotive exporter is notable, given the closures of several nearly century-old plants such as Toyota, Ford and General Motors, which devastated Australia’s domestic car industry across 2016-2018.
The Nissan Casting Plant is still going strong, with contracts firmly in place to continue exporting to both Australian and foreign markets until at least 2035.
Apart from its tow bars, the plant produces over 1.2 million die-cast aluminium parts each year and over 25 different car components – including EV and hybrid components – and collects an export revenue of over $82 million per year.
The plant also has exclusive contracts to produce complex parts for advanced electric motors and hybrid power trains.
Andrew Humberstone, Managing Director of Nissan Oceania, was proud to note that each of the 16,000 towbars produced by the plant each year would be leaving with the Australian Made symbol on them.
“The Nissan Casting Australia Plant is a true local automotive manufacturing success story, and it’s one we’re incredibly proud of. Earning official Australian Made certification is recognition of the team’s hard work over a long period in producing world-class componentry that appears in Nissan vehicles around the world.“
Australian Made Chief Executive Ben Lazzaro congratulated Nissan Casting Australia.
“It’s great to see Nissan Casting Plant Australia strengthen its commitment to local manufacturing and begin stamping their aluminium castings and towbars with the iconic kangaroo.” Mr Lazzaro noted.
“There is a growing demand for Australian products, with country-of-origin increasingly influencing purchasing decisions. As we know, Aussie products are manufactured to some of the highest standards in the world, making them trusted and known for their safety and quality,”
