DAS

The Distribution and Auto Service Co. Inc. (DAS) is a jointly owned venture with the Mabuchi Kensetsu Co., Ltd., a well known construction company having a transportation subsidiary, the principal stockholder...the Nissan Motor Corp. in U.S.A. and the Marubeni-Iida (America) Inc., a subsidiary of one of Japan's largest trading houses, Marubeni-Iida Co., Ltd.

In order to maintain the competitive position of the nation's number one selling small pickup, the Nissan Motor Corporation in U.S.A. has decided to partially assemble in the United States up to 50 per cent of the Datsun pickup trucks import. Assembly operations, just getting underway, will take place in the Port of Los Angeles at the Distribution and Auto Service facility which currently handles importation, warehousing and distribution of Datsun vehicles in this area.

The assembly operation, which consists of the final assembly of the pickup bed to the the cab and chassis, has necessitated the building of a production line that will have a capacity of up to 150 vehicles per day. Most of the 68,000 sq. ft. building at the D.A.S. facility is utilized by the production line and storage of the the pickup truck bes that have been shipped by container from Japan. The assembly operation production line has been designed with such sophistication that in order to produce the current 80 vehicles per day assembly schedule, only 10 employees are necessary. All the production personell are locally hired people.

The assembly operation consists of first removing a subframe that is on the chassis and carries the tail lights, fuel tank and other components. These components are then mounted on a truck bed which is then placed on the chassis and secured further down the production line. Once the vehicle is completed it is inspected at the end of the production line.

While currently the only assembly operation in existence for Datsun is in the Port of Los Angeles, a second facility is under study for the Pacific Northwest. Seattle is the area that has been decided upon. At this time there are no other assembly facility plans being considered.