Honda today announced it would add flexible vehicle and powertrain manufacturing capacity in North America, increasing vehicle production capacity from 1.22 million to 1.4 million units in late 2004 and total capital investment to more than $US7 billion.
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Newly opened Honda Manufacturing of Alabama (HMA) will construct a new $US425 million, 150,000-unit production line, with synchronous assembly of both bodies and engines under one roof, as with its existing production line.
The annual capacity of the HMA facility will increase to 300,000 vehicles and engines when the new line begins production in 2004.
Honda of Canada Manufacturing (HCM) will invest $C32 million (approximately $US21 million) to increase annual production capacity to 390,000 units by early 2003.
The number one line at HCM (producing the Civic and Acura EL, an exclusive model for the Canadian market) will increase production capacity to 195,000 units by early 2003.
HCM’s number two assembly line (producing the Honda Odyssey, Pilot and Acura MDX) will further improve its efficiency to increase production capacity to 195,000 units by early 2003.
The Anna Engine Plant (AEP) of Honda of America Manufacturing (HAM) in Ohio will invest $20 million to increase its manufacturing flexibility for increased V6 engine production.
Engine production capacity at AEP will also be increased by 120,000 units, from 1.04 million units per year to a total capacity of 1.16 million units annually.
The new $425 million production line at Honda Manufacturing of Alabama (HMA) will be constructed adjacent to the existing facility on the same 1,350 acre site in Lincoln, Alabama, and will mirror the current facility’s operations with the exception of stamping, plastic injection moulding, and engine die-casting and machining — where capacity of the existing operation will be increased to supply both lines.
The construction of the new line will start as early as the fall of this year, with mass production scheduled to begin in spring 2004.
When HMA reaches its new two-line capacity of 300,000 vehicles and engines, total employment will reach 4,300 associates. HMA began production of the Odyssey minivan and V6 engines in November 2001 and will reach the full annual capacity rate of 150,000 units on the current assembly line in September 2002.
By early 2003, the number one line at Honda of Canada Manufacturing (HCM) will increase production capacity from 170,000 units per year to 195,000 units annually. This additional capacity will help offset the reduction in Civic production at the East Liberty Auto Plant in Ohio, which will begin production of the all-new light truck model Element late this year.
Further, HCM’s number two assembly line, one of the more flexible vehicle production lines in North America with production of the Honda Odyssey, Pilot and Acura MDX on the same line, will increase capacity to 195,000 units annually.
Honda of America Mfg. (HAM) will invest $20 million to make its Anna Engine Plant (AEP) more flexible by replacing one of the plant’s three assembly lines — which currently assembles only four-cylinder engines — with a line capable of assembling both four-cylinder and V6 engines.
The plant — already the largest Honda car engine plant in the world — will be expanded by 48,000 square feet to accommodate the replacement line, which is replacing a line that dates to 1985 when the plant opened to produce GL1200 motorcycle engines.
Production on the replacement engine line in Ohio is scheduled to begin in summer 2003. The replacement line will bring combined output of the three lines from the current 1.04 million per year to approximately 1.16 million units.
The Anna plant, which is the main supply source of engines for Honda’s North American assembly plants (other than HMA), also will fulfill a V6 engine supply agreement with General Motors Corp beginning in autumn 2003.
