Paint and coatings giant Nippon Paint this week announced plans for a new $60 million plant in Tennessee that is expected to create 150 new jobs.
The company’s U.S. subsidiary, which serves the automotive, architectural and industrial markets, will build the new 270,000-square-foot facility in Chattanooga to produce electrocoat and topcoat for vehicles. The plant will be Nippon’s first in the U.S. to make E-Coat, which uses an electrical current to deposit paint.
Nippon officials said the expansion is a vital component of its expansion plans in the Americas.
“Nippon Paint USA looks forward to bringing E-Coat production to the U.S. and expanding our paint and coating product offerings to our valuable automotive customers in the U.S., Canada, and Mexico,” Tetsuro Fujita, the subsidiary’s chief executive officer, said in a statement from the Tennessee Department of Economic and Community Development.
Construction is expected to begin early next year; the new hires will be added over the next five to seven years.
