Honda cutting back production
Business First of Columbus - by Dan Eaton
Honda Motor Co. is reducing North American vehicle production by another 18,000 units in response to dwindling sales.
Annual production at its Marysville and East Liberty auto plants is being cut by 6,000 vehicles, while manufacturing at its Lincoln, Ala., facility is dropping by 12,000.
“The current downturn in customer demand for motor vehicles has created a very serious situation for all automakers, including Honda in North America,” said Ron Lietzke, spokesman for the company’s Honda of America Manufacturing Inc. unit that runs its plants in the U.S.
Honda sales in the U.S. declined 25 percent in October, following a 24 percent decline in September. Sales through the first 10 months of the year are down 3 percent to 1.27 million vehicles.
Honda has dropped its production goal for its fiscal year ending March 31 by 56,000 units, or 2 percent, from 1.46 million to 1.41 million. The company announced a 38,000-unit reduction Oct. 28.
The move comes one day after Toyota Motor Corp. confirmed plans to reduce its North American production after a 23 percent sales decline in October.
Lietzke said to accomplish the cut, Honda’s vehicle production will shut down Dec. 22 and 23 at Marysville and East Liberty, extending the annual holiday to a full two weeks, while all Saturday overtime production has been eliminated for the year.
The Marysville plant produces the Accord sedan and coupe, the Acura TL sedan and RDX sport utility vehicle, while East Liberty makes the Civic, CR-V and Element SUVs. The Anna Engine Plant and Marysville Motorcycle Plant also will shut down those days.
The Alabama plant, which builds the Odyssey minivan and Pilot SUV, will achieve its reduction by cutting daily output from 1,300 units to 1,150 vehicles in January and February and then to 1,000 units in March.
Honda’s plant in Alliston, Ontario, which makes Civics, Pilots, the Ridgeline truck and the Acura MDX, will cease overtime work on Saturdays through January. The company’s new Greensburg, Ind., plant is unaffected since it is not at full production, Lietzke said.
Toyota spokesman Mike Goss said the Torrance, Calif.-based automaker also will stop manufacturing Dec. 22 and 23 at its 14 North American plants, with plans to slow production of a line in Georgetown, Ky., that produces Camry and Avalon sedans and a line in Princeton, Ind., that makes Sienna minivans. A shift making the Tacoma truck a Fremont, Calif., plant also will be cut.
In connection to the Georgetown slowdown, 250 temporary workers are being let go.
Goss declined to quantify the number of vehicles the reductions will trim from Toyota’s output.
This is the second time this year Honda’s Marysville operation has gone dark during the regular work week. The Marysville plant ceased manufacturing May 22 and 23 to reduce Accord inventory on the market, which had reached an 80-day supply, while Honda’s goal was 60. That was the first change to the Monday-to-Friday work schedule since 1993. Lietzke said production was to shut down for a third day, July 27, but the company decided a further inventory reduction was not needed.
Marysville’s capacity is 440,000 vehicles a year and has produced 397,730 through the end of October – 331,919 Accords, 45,694 TLs and 20,117 RDXs. East Liberty can make up to 240,000 vehicles and has made 206,678 through the first 10 months of the year – 95,633 Civics, 93,363 CR-Vs and 17,682 Elements.
Marysville has 5,250 employees, while East Liberty employs 2,500. Lietzke said employees have the option to take vacation on the eliminated production days, come into work for non-manufacturing duties such as maintenance or training, or not come to work and not get paid.
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