Ficosa has boosted its presence in the United States by opening a new state-of-the-art manufacturing facility in Cookeville, Tennessee. With an investment of over $50 million, the new plant is equipped with the sector’s latest technology, becoming the most advanced in Ficosa’s global portfolio.

Ficosa is a global provider of high-technology vision, safety, connectivity, and efficiency systems for the automotive and mobility sectors.

The Cookeville facility, which has a total surface area of 270,000 square feet, is dedicated to producing rear view systems for automotive manufacturers such as Nissan, Ford, Volkswagen, Fiat Chrysler, and General Motors.

The plant has an average production capacity of 4.5 million rear view mirrors and will add nearly 500 new and advanced manufacturing jobs in the U.S. and Tennessee.

“This new facility is a strategic move that allows the consolidation of key operations and enables a further future growth in one of the largest automobile markets in the world,” said Javier Pujol, CEO of Ficosa. “By opening these new premises we are not only improving the group’s efficiency and operational capacity in the region, but also reinforcing our commitment to bring more advanced manufacturing jobs to the U.S. and to help lay the foundation for a more successful manufacturing future in the state of Tennessee.”

The new plant is bringing hundreds of new jobs to Cookeville, with new job positions opening up daily, from production and project managers, technicians and engineers, to human resource specialists and assembly and warehouse workers.

Pujol also explained that the Cookeville’s facility also strengthens the company’s business alliance with Panasonic—which started in 2015 in the U.S. and Mexico. “We are boosting a plan to align the industrial strategy of Ficosa with Panasonic in the region of North America, in order to accelerate the launch of new products in the areas of connectivity, efficiency and safety,” he said. “This plan allows us to support the growth of the local market and increase our capacity in R&D in mirrors, shifters, and new technologies that we are developing together with Panasonic, bringing together our technological capabilities with the know-how in electronics of the Japanese company.”

In June 2016, Ficosa North America was awarded four contracts from two American OEMs to produce 8.9 million units of rear-view mirrors over a period of five years. Three of the four orders will be produced at the new Cookeville’s plant, with an estimated economic value of $460 million. Production on those contracts is scheduled to start first quarter of 2018.

Ficosa International began operating in the United States in 1995. Ficosa North America is headquartered in Madison Heights, Michigan.