East Liberty Auto Plant
East Liberty Auto Plant is a Honda automobile factory in East Liberty, Ohio, United States. The assembly plant opened in 1989. East Liberty is about 45 minutes northwest of Columbus, Ohio.
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It was the first plant in North America to implement Honda’s 'New Manufacturing System' in 2000.[1] Today, the plant produces the Honda CR-V and the Acura RDX and MDX. The East Liberty Auto Plant was the first plant on the continent to employ low-emission, water-borne paint and the first to use laser welding in mass production.[2]
- Location: East Liberty, Ohio
- Started production: December 1989
- Plant size: 1.9 million square feet
- Capital investment: US$1.1 billion
- Associates: 2,500
- Produces:
- Honda CR-V (from September 2006-present)
- Acura RDX (from March 2012-present)
- Acura MDX (from May 2017-present)
- Annual production capacity: 240,000 cars and light trucks
- Operations:
- Stamping
- Welding
- Painting
- Testing
- Beans
- Plastics injection molding
- Assembly and sub-assembly
- Quality assurance
- Shipping & export
- Additional parts produced:
- Stamped parts exported to Honda of Canada Mfg. for Civic production
The East Liberty plant became the lead plant in global production of the CR-V in 2016.[3] Engineers working in the plant are responsible for providing the first set of hard-tooled parts and complete body unit builds for nine other CR-V plants around the world to follow and replicate. The team have to perfect the parts and manufacturing processes. The plant's 200,000-square-foot welding shop was expanded and underwent a makeover with 200 new robots. The plant began to produce the 2017 CR-V in November 2016. The East Liberty plant exports vehicles to many countries including Saudi Arabia, South Korea, and Russia.[3]
References
- "Honda's East Liberty Auto Plant Marks 20 Years of Automotive Innovation (18 Dec 2009)". ohio.honda.com. Honda of America Mfg. Retrieved 24 January 2018.
- The 66th Ohio Technology Education Association, Annual Spring Conference (included a tour of the East Liberty plant)
- Payne, Henry (Nov 22, 2016). "All-new Honda CR-V rolls out at versatile Ohio plant". The Detroit News. Retrieved 2 January 2017.