Nissan North America, the subsidiary of the Japanese carmaker that manufacturers cars and trucks for the U.S., Canada and Mexico markets, has contracted with Computer Sciences Corp. for help desk, mobile computing and IT infrastructure support.
The value and duration of the contract is unspecified. But the goal of the engagement is cost-cutting to help Nissan cope with continuing economic pressure bearing down on the automotive industry.
"We’re very pleased to have this opportunity to partner with Nissan North America," said Eileen Sweeney, president of CSC’s Manufacturing Group, in a statement. "Manufacturing companies face increasing global competition. IT offers an avenue to differentiate and build competitive advantage. We look forward to applying our technological and industry expertise in support of Nissan’s business goals."
CSC will deliver service and help desk support, as well as mobility enablement and support for personal digital assistants and wireless field devices. CSC will also supply service management for Nissan’s 40 facilities in the U.S. and Canada.
Last month, Nissan North America signed a multiyear engagement with HP Enterprise Services (formerly EDS) for new product development and implementation for servers and storage with the express goal of reducing operational costs.
“The standardized technology infrastructure is designed to help [Nissan North America] reduce operational costs and better manage its multivendor environment to support business growth with important new products,” said Darl Davidson, vice president of the HES U.S. Manufacturing Industry Group. “We’ve brought together a senior-level team with deep automotive manufacturing experience to provide an innovative solution that leverages the best of HP’s offerings.”
Nissan North America, headquartered in Smyrna, Tenn., operates factories and support facilities across the United States and Canada with a manufacturing capacity exceeding 500,000 vehicles per year. Like other vehicle manufacturers, Nissan has been battered by the recession. It’s year-over-year U.S. sales are down 2.9 percent. Nissan, which operates the Infinity luxury brand, is the sixth largest vehicle manufacturer in the world.