Tenneco to Open Clean Air Plant in TN

By Keith Loria

Mike Seurynck, vice president & general manager for North American Clean Air at Tenneco

Tenneco will open a 117,000-square foot Clean Air manufacturing plant in Spring Hill, Tenn., to support programs for General Motors and its Spring Hill assembly plant.

The new facility will employ about 20 people when it opens, but Tenneco estimates that its workforce will grow to about 175 by 2019.

Scheduled to begin production in late 2016, the facility is the second of its kind in the state, joining Tenneco’s Clean Air plant in Smithville. That facility currently employs approximately 650. Overall, Tenneco owns and operates 65 Clean Air manufacturing facilities globally, including 16 in North America.

“We’re very excited to continue providing exceptional products and service to GM from our newest facility in North America,” said Mike Seurynck, Tenneco’s vice president and general manager North America Clean Air, in a statement. “We are equally excited to help bring new jobs to the state of Tennessee and thank both the state and the city of Spring Hill for their support.”

In June, Tenneco opened a 70,000-square-foot plant in Lansing, Mich., to support GM’s crossover vehicles.

Tenneco, a Lake Forest, Ill.-based global manufacturer of clean air and ride performance products, also operates Clean Air global engineering centers in Grass Lake, Mich., Edenkoben, Germany, and Kunshan, China to support the design, testing and development of advanced systems for light vehicle and commercial truck and off-highway applications as well as locomotive, marine and stationary engine customers throughout the world.

According to the Detroit Free Press, GM is investing $788.7 million to retool its Spring Hill plant so it can build an all-new, fuel-efficient engine and to modernize. The Spring Hill plant opened 26 years ago and produced Saturn vehicles until nine years ago. It now builds V8 engines for trucks and SUVs.