In-depth coverage
The Springfield News-Sun provides unmatched coverage of Honda and other large companies in Clark and Champaign counties, including recent stories on a Navistar expansion and on rebounding auto parts suppliers.
By the numbers:
$210 million — Honda’s investment at its Marysville plant
300,000 square feet— Size of upgraded paint facility
1985 — Year original paint facility was built
50 percent— Honda’s goal to reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 2050
Source: Honda
Honda will invest $210 million to build a new paint line at its Marysville Auto Plant, part of an initiative the automaker is calling its “Green Path” approach to reduce its environmental footprint in North America.
The investment will allow Honda to reduce its energy and water use, as well as chemical emissions from its vehicle painting process, according to information from the company. The painting process can account for as much as 60 percent of an auto plant’s total energy use.
“It’s very consistent with Honda’s looking to continually improve things and generally make sure that their facilities are as environmentally friendly as they can be,” said Stephanie Brinley, a senior analyst at IHS automotive. “That’s just been a part of Honda’s corporate DNA.”
Honda is a major employer both in the region and across the state. About 1,400 workers from Clark and Champaign counties work for the automaker, and it employs about 13,000 Ohioans overall.
Construction of the new paint line will begin in December and it’s scheduled to be complete by the end of 2017.
“With this new investment, our Ohio operations are once again raising the bar for quality and environmentally responsible manufacturing operations,” said Tom Shoupe, executive vice president and COO of Honda of America Manufacturing in a statement.
Honda’s Marysville facility has two paint lines. The new, 300,000-square-foot facility will replace the existing Line 1 paint facility built in 1985. Honda’s Line 2 operation received an overhaul in 2006.
Once complete, the new Line 1 paint shop will be able to handle 229,000 vehicles annually.
It will reduce volatile organic compound emissions by 66 percent and carbon dioxide emissions by 18 percent, according to information from the company. It will also slash water use by 2 million gallons a year and eliminate 255 tons of paint sludge, a waste byproduct of the painting process.
The new paint shop likely won’t lead to any new jobs at the Marysville facility.
It’s common for auto makers to invest in their facilities to make them more efficient and also more environmentally friendly, Brinley said. The Marysville facility is the largest of Honda’s eight auto plants in North America.
In 2013 Honda also installed two wind turbines at its Russells Point facility, making it one of the first major auto manufacturing facilities to supply about 10 percent of its own electricity from wind. The technical center at Russells Point also operates with a geothermal heating and cooling system.
“One of the things this will do for Honda as well is because it will run more efficiently it should be cheaper to operate,” Brinley said. “They should see some cost efficiencies in operating the new paint line.”
Honda announced the investment at Marysville as part of its “Green Path” program. Among its goals, Honda is working to cut its total corporate carbon dioxide emissions in half by 2050, compared to 2000 levels.
The company has also pushed to increase the use of materials in its vehicles that can be recycled, and issued a “Green Dealer” guide to its dealer chain and other businesses that provides information on how to reduce energy and water consumption while cutting operating costs.
Honda also expects to introduce a new fuel cell car in 2016, according to information from the company.
The investment in the Marysville site will likely provide several benefits for the automaker, Brinley said.
“I look at that and see a lot of the expected check marks that you would look for when you make an investment in your property and your plant,” Brinley said. “You want the investment to result in increased efficiency, you want it to be more environmentally friendly and you want it to increase the quality of the product.”
About the Author