| larrys |
In today's (June 22, 2006) Wall Street Journal. The image below shows, " Two hundred locals posed in the shape of Honda's logo as part of a campaign to win Greensburg a plant."
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Indiana Town Woos Honda
Region Reviled Japan's Cars
For Years, but Now It's Battling
To Win New Plant to Build Them
By ILAN BRAT
June 22, 2006; Page B1
GREENSBURG, Ind. -- Growing up in central Indiana in the early 1980s, Peter VanBaalen remembers hearing stories of people scraping their keys into the paint of Honda vehicles.
In his hometown of Anderson, he says, General Motors Corp. was the major employer, the United Auto Workers union was "all powerful," and local folks reviled Japanese auto makers. "As my parents always said, 'Know who buttered your bread,'" Mr. VanBaalen says.
The mood has definitely changed. Now, as publisher of the Greensburg Daily News, Mr. VanBaalen has joined most others in this southeastern Indiana town in rooting for Honda Motor Co. to build an assembly plant nearby.
Residents of Greensburg, population 10,500, have sent hundreds of pictures, drawings and letters to Honda as part of a letter-writing campaign. They have invited a local Japanese businessman to educate the town on Japanese culture and customs. In late May, 200 locals donned red T-shirts and stood in the shape of Honda's logo for an aerial photograph. And near the town square, Enhanced Telecommunications Corp. has unfurled a banner outside its office proclaiming, "ETC proudly supports Honda."
Last month, Honda said it would put its next assembly plant in the Midwest, and Indiana and Ohio were the first states to confirm that the company had optioned land within their borders. Illinois has also confirmed that Honda is looking at a site in the state but won't specify the location. In a longer shot, Wisconsin belatedly joined the states vying for the plant when the Walworth County Economic Development Alliance last week said it's pitching two sites to Honda.
The factory, which will cost an estimated $400 million to build and outfit, is a welcome prospect in the Rust Belt, which has been battered by the decline of the domestic auto industry. Honda hasn't specified yet what vehicles it plans to build there, but the plant could employ as many as 1,500 workers and draw additional suppliers and related businesses to the state it calls home. None of Honda's nine U.S. sites is unionized, and this one isn't likely to be either.
Honda's Marysville, Ohio, plant, opened in 1982, was the first built by a Japanese manufacturer in the U.S. Since then, foreign makers from Japan, Europe and South Korea have built -- on their own or in alliances with domestic companies -- more than a dozen others.
Most of the plants built during the 1980s were in Midwestern towns that were close enough to the existing supply base in Detroit but far enough from unions. During the 1990s, foreign companies began moving south to tap into fresh labor markets, follow the U.S. population shift and avoid winter.
Now, with GM, Ford Motor Co. and parts supplier Delphi Corp. in the doldrums, Honda is expanding again in the Rust Belt. The region offers a ready supply of skilled but unemployed auto workers, and, according to the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago, parts suppliers are still largely concentrated in Ohio, Indiana, Illinois and Michigan. "We certainly think the Midwest is a great place to do business," Honda spokesman Edward Miller says.
Ohio is considered a particularly strong contender for the plant because Honda has a long and successful history in the Buckeye State. The Tokyo-based company has expanded since it built its Marysville plant, and it now employs more than 16,000 people in the state. Sites near two Ohio towns -- Van Wert, population 10,700, and Jeffersonville, population 1,300 -- are believed to be serious candidates. In Van Wert, residents have written more than 300 letters of support, and Burcham's Printing donated 200 signs for downtown businesses saying: "This Business Welcomes Honda." The signs were quickly snapped up, and the Chamber of Commerce has ordered 100 more.
Jeffersonville Mayor David Krupla says his town boasted to Honda of its new, $4 million wastewater-treatment plant, which will double the town's water capacity. "Anything we could get that would help us pay the bills would be a plus," Mr. Krupla says.
The clamor in Indiana for Japanese help reflects a significant shift in attitude. In 1988, then-Lt. Gov. John Mutz lost his bid to be governor after an opposing candidate ran ads portraying him as a pawn of foreign interests. Mr. Mutz had visited Japan 13 times to woo auto suppliers and other companies, culminating in the establishment in 1987 of a Subaru plant, the state's first foreign-owned auto assembly factory, in Lafayette. "There was a clear appeal to xenophobia," Mr. Mutz says now.
Things began to change in the 1990s, when it became clearer that Indiana's ties to GM, Ford and DaimlerChrysler AG could hurt the economy as those companies lost market share to overseas rivals. In 1996, Toyota Motor Corp. established an assembly plant that makes sport-utility vehicles and pickup trucks in Princeton, Ind., contributing an estimated 23,000 jobs to the surrounding region. Today, more than 500 companies with some sort of foreign ownership -- about 200 or so of them Japanese -- operate in Indiana, says Duke Energy Corp., a Charlotte, N.C., gas and electric utility.
Still, auto-industry employment in Indiana fell 8.6% from 2001 to 2005, according to a report in May by the Chicago Fed. Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels, a Republican, has stressed attracting foreign investment as part of his drive to raise the state's per-capita annual income, now $31,276, to meet the country's average ($34,586) by 2020.
Last summer Gov. Daniels led an 80-plus-person contingent, the state's largest ever overseas trade delegation, to the World Expo in Aichi, Japan. While there, he and other state officials met with Toyota representatives. The state's economic-development staff had heard Toyota was looking to expand in the U.S., says Nathan Feltman, executive vice president and general counsel of the Indiana Economic Development Corp., a public-private partnership.
In subsequent meetings with Toyota, the state economic-development staff touted the state's experienced work force and low workers' compensation rates and electricity costs. The lobbying paid off in March, when Toyota announced a joint agreement with Fuji Heavy Industries Ltd. to start producing about 100,000 Camry sedans a year in an unused portion of Fuji's Subaru of Indiana Automotive Inc. plant in northwestern Indiana. The expansion could employ about 1,000 people.
This week, the governor is taking a smaller contingent to Japan and South Korea. A spokeswoman for Gov. Daniels says he won't comment on the details of what the state is doing to lure Honda for fear of jeopardizing a deal. "This is pretty serious stuff for us," she says. Honda has also declined to comment on its search until a decision is made.
It's serious stuff as well for Greensburg, which sits amid pork farms and fields of corn, soybeans and wheat about 50 miles southeast of Indianapolis. Several ball-bearing and other manufacturing plants have closed, downsized or moved away in recent years. The town draws a few tourists to the aspen tree that has been mysteriously growing from its courthouse clock-tower roof since at least 1870. But Greensburg's unemployment rate has been hovering around 5% in recent months, up from as low as 1.5% in 1999.
Some in this heavily agricultural region worry about the loss of fertile fields. On the Daily News's Web site, a spirited conversation has been taking place under the headline "Honda - not welcome in my town."
Undeterred, town boosters say the area offers skilled workers who aren't unionized, plenty of cheap available land, and proximity to Interstate 74. Greensburg could also draw workers from Indianapolis; Bloomington, Ind.; and Cincinnati. "It's a town where you'd really want to raise a family," says Frank Manus, the mayor.
Standing in the Daily News parking lot surrounded by GM and Ford vehicles, Mr. VanBaalen says he could see himself capitalizing if Honda lands nearby. "I would like to be the guy to open up a Honda dealership," he says. "I would think it would do pretty well."
--Timothy W. Martin contributed to this article.
Write to Ilan Brat at ilan.brat@wsj.com1
URL for this article:
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB115092021121686690.html
Copyright 2006 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved |
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| ramirami |
:1pat:
I know IL was also trying to woo Honda for the plant, even though initially Honda was interested only in IN or OH....
IL is using the star power of B. Obama... |
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| jay |
Honda picks Indiana site
Illinois' Fithian not landing new plant
By Jim Mateja and Christi Parsons
Tribune staff reporters
Published June 27, 2006, 9:42 PM CDT
Honda has scheduled a press conference Wednesday to announce that Indiana has been chosen as the site for its new North American assembly plant, according to sources familiar with the negotiations.
Illinois, Indiana and Ohio had been the finalists for the $400 million facility, which will employ 1,500 workers and produce 200,000 cars annually starting in 2008. It will be Honda's sixth plant in North America.
Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich flew back from Washington Tuesday to meet with Honda officials, hoping to lure the plant to Illinois. He had been briefing members of the Illinois congressional delegation on the status of talks with the carmaker.
Instead, it is believed Blagojevich came home to learn that the automaker did not choose a site in Fithian, a town of 500 near Danville. Sources familiar with the negotiations said Japanese automakers out of courtesy notify the winning state and those that lost at the same time.
Andrew Ross, a spokesman for Blagojevich's office, declined to comment.
The choice of the site near Greensburg, Ind., some 50 miles southeast of Indianapolis, ended the Illlinois bid that included a letter-writing campaign by Sens. Dick Durbin and Barack Obama to Koichi Kondo, president and chief executive of American Honda Motor Co. They urged him to bring the facility to Illinois.
As late as Tuesday morning, U.S. Rep. Rahm Emanuel (D-Chicago) said lawmakers "acknowledged we'll do what we need to do to sweeten the deal."
"Everybody agreed, consensus-wise, we'll do whatever we need to do to make Illinois the more attractive state," Emanuel said. Honda wouldn't confirm Greensburg as the site but did say it had called the Wednesday press conference there to make a major news announcement. Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels is returning from a trade mission in Asia to attend.
This spring, Honda collected options on land near Greensburg, a community of 10,500, offering to buy property at 75 percent more than its assessed value.
Communities in Ohio also were in the running for the plant.
Like Honda's other U.S. operations, it will be a non-union facility. It will give Honda the capacity to build 1.6 million vehicles annually in North America, up from 1.4 million now. Honda wants to boost sales 34 percent, to 4.5 million vehicles worldwide by 2010, with the U.S. accounting for 2 million of that.
"Honda's sales are up, its market share is up, and it's no surprise it needed more production capacity," said Jim Hossack, vice president of AutoPacific, an automotive research and consulting firm. "Is one more plant enough? It is for now."
Honda has two plants in Ohio, one in Alabama and one each in Canada and Mexico, and now it will have one in Indiana.
"It follows the pattern of imports to have facilities in many different states because it doesn't hurt to get as many senators, governors, congressmen and mayors on your side as you can, and this is how you do it," Hossack said.
Honda, Japan's second-largest automaker behind Toyota Motor Corp., hasn't said yet which models it will build at the new plant.
Speculation centers on the subcompact Fit and compact Civic, two high-mileage cars in strong demand. That would guarantee full production. Civics are built in Ohio, with some imported from Japan to help fill demand. Fit is built in Japan.
Honda President Takeo Fukui said it is tapping into record profits to expand in North America, the company's most profitable market. Toyota also is expanding capacity in North America, which accounts for as much as 70 percent of the operating profits of both companies.
And though the new plant, like the other Japanese operations in the U.S., will be non-union, Hossack sees its construction as a positive.
"Still, at least it's good to see that while GM and Ford are reducing employment, someone is adding employment," Hossack said.
Just not in Illinois.
Tribune news services contributed to this report.
jmateja@tribune.com
cparsons@tribune.com
Copyright © 2006, Chicago Tribune |
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| rocky |
Honda Confirms $500M Plant in Ind.
PRESS RELEASE: Plant will have capacity of 200,000 units.
by TCC Team (2006-06-28)
Honda to Build New Automobile Manufacturing Plant in Indiana
- $550 Million Plant to Employ 2,000 Associates and Begin Production in 2008 -
GREENSBURG, Ind., June 28 /PRNewswire/ -- Honda today announced plans to
build a $550 million automobile plant on a 1,700-acre tract in Decatur County,
Indiana, near Greensburg, 50 miles southeast of Indianapolis. The plant will
begin mass production of fuel efficient 4-cylinder vehicles in fall 2008, with
an annual production capacity of 200,000 vehicles and employment of 2,000
associates.
The new Indiana plant, Honda's sixth auto plant and 14th major plant
overall in North America, will help boost Honda's total North American auto
production capacity from 1.4 million units to more than 1.6 million units in
2008, grow Honda's employment in North America to more than 37,000 associates
and increase North American capital investment to more than $9 billion.(1)
"Honda's success in America has been based on our strong commitment to our
customers," said Koichi Kondo, president of American Honda Motor Co., Inc.,
and chief operating officer of Honda's North America Region operations. "We
believe the great state of Indiana has what we need to continue this
success -- an outstanding community of people, excellent transportation
systems, and the necessary infrastructure to support industry. It is an ideal
location in the Midwest both for our network of parts suppliers and as a
central location for all of our customers across the country."
In 2005, American Honda achieved record U.S. sales of 1,462,472 new Honda
and Acura cars and light trucks, the ninth straight year of record annual
sales. In order to meet growing demand, Honda plans to build the new Indiana
plant in approximately 24 months, with construction expected to begin in fall
2006.
Honda will announce additional details of its vehicle production plans at
a later date. The new plant will have the same type of flexible New
Manufacturing System that is found in Honda's other auto plants in the U.S.
and Canada, with advanced technologies that provide the flexibility to produce
different models more quickly and efficiently. Major processes performed at
the Indiana plant will include stamping, welding, painting, plastic injection
molding and assembly operations. Hiring plans will be announced in the coming
months.
Honda will make a significant commitment to limit the environmental impact
of the new Indiana plant. Already, every major Honda plant in North America
has met the ISO 14001 international environmental management standards except
the new transmission plant in Georgia that opened in May 2006, which is now
working toward certification. The Indiana plant will employ advanced methods
of energy and emission reduction with the goal to become a "zero waste to
landfill" factory.
"Our commitment to the environment is not based just on regulations or
testing standards," said Akio Hamada, president of Honda of America Mfg. Inc.,
and head of Honda's manufacturing operations in the North America Region.
"Our goal is that this plant in Indiana will have the smallest environmental
footprint of any Honda auto plant in North America."
As part of an infrastructure improvement package developed in cooperation
with local and state government officials, the state of Indiana and the
community will make various highway improvements in the area, provide site and
infrastructure improvements and funds to train new Honda associates.
The Anna, Ohio Engine Plant, Honda's largest engine facility in the world,
will provide 4-cylinder engines to the Indiana plant. With annual capacity of
1.15 million engines, the Anna Plant has the flexibility to produce both
4-cylinder and V6 engines, as well as numerous engine and brake components.
Honda first announced its plan to build a new auto plant as part of its
May 17 announcement for the advancement of the company's "2010 Vision" for
North American automobile operations. In addition to the new auto plant in
Indiana, Honda's North American plan also included the following new corporate
initiatives:
* Construction of a new engine plant in Canada to begin production of
4-cylinder engines in 2008 with an investment of $140 million and
employment of 340 associates.
* Expansion of U.S. engine, transmission and powertrain component
production in Ohio and Georgia, with additional investment of
$125 million and additional employment of 80 associates.
* Introduction in the U.S. and Canada in 2009 of a new, more affordable,
dedicated hybrid car.
* Introduction in the U.S. and Canada within the next three years of new
4-cylinder diesel engine technology that meets U.S. EPA Tier 2 Bin 5
emissions standards.
* Establishment of a voluntary goal to improve American Honda's Corporate
Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) by five percent over 2005 levels by the
year 2010.
Honda began operations in the U.S. in 1959 with the establishment of
American Honda Motor Co., Inc., Honda's first overseas subsidiary. Honda
began U.S. production operations in 1979. Prior to today's announcement,
Honda had invested more than $8.5 billion in its North American operations
with 13 major manufacturing plants, employment of more than 33,000 associates
and the annual purchase of more than $16 billion in parts and materials from
suppliers in North America. Nearly 8 of 10 Honda and Acura cars and light
trucks sold in America are produced in North America.
(1) Honda products are produced using domestic and globally-sourced parts
SOURCE American Honda Motor Co., Inc.
-0- 06/28/2006
/CONTACT: Indiana, Jeffrey Smith, +1-310-781-5542, or Detroit, David
Iida, +1-313-202-3150, or Ohio, Ed Miller, +1-937-537-1087, all of American
Honda Motor Co., Inc./
/Photo: NewsCom: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh...516/LATU140LOGO
AP Archive: http://photoarchive.ap.org
PRN Photo Desk, photodesk@prnewswire.com/ |
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| jay |
| Fashionably late to the party, rocky :p |
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| 787_Pilot |
| So which model Honda(s) will the new plant build? |
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| Sportymonk |
So Indianna got the bid!
Lord I can't go back there, Indiana wants me.:p
(If you are under 35, ignore this post, you won't get it.) |
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| CNYGuy |
quote:
Originally posted by 787_Pilot
So which model Honda(s) will the new plant build?
I think they said they would build 4-cylinder models... |
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