In the US, Honda Motor is taking measures to reduce logistics costs at its Lincoln, Alabama plant by bringing parts assembly work in-house.
In the next few weeks the facility will start a blanking line to cut pieces of steel and aluminium to feed the plant's two vehicle stamping lines, work previously carried out by Precision Strip, an Ohio company with a plant in Talladega, Alabama, near the Lincoln facility.
Honda has also brought rear knuckle subassembly for the Accord V-6 sedan in-house. Accord sedan production recently shifted from the company’s Ohio plant to Alabama and marks the first passenger vehicle to be made at the plant, which makes the Odyssey minivan, Pilot SUV and Ridgeline pickup.
Most of Honda's suppliers are based between Ohio and Ontario, locations where Honda has built cars in high volume since the 1980s. By contrast, only about 40 of its North American suppliers operate in the Alabama area. The growth of the Alabama operation has prompted the Japanese carmaker to do more local sourcing, including in-house production of engines and the opening of a Honda transmission plant in nearby Georgia.
