Honda completes $138 million expansion at Anna Engine Plant

ANNA - Honda of America Manufacturing has invested more than $1.5 billion in its Anna Engine Plant since the facility first opened in 1985. On Thursday, the plant showed off the results of its latest multimillion-dollar expansion.

Dubbed the "steel parts expansion project" by the company, the $138 million project increased the production capability of the plant for nearly all the steel engine parts that were previously imported from Japan. The move also solidifies the plant as the lead engine plant in North America, the company said.

The expansion also enables the plant to increase production to be able to supply engines to Honda's new auto plant in Greensburg, Ind.

"It's just one of the pieces of the activity to increase our capacity in North America with the Indiana plant going to make 200,000 vehicles a year, the engines are going to come from Anna. That's a huge increase in our capacity," said Dan Smith, plant manager. "As a company, we decided to start an engine plant in Canada to help supply Canada those vehicles. As they ramp up, we'll shift our engines to Indiana. This steel parts expansion, again globally, helps Honda with those critical components."

As part of the project, Honda added 135,000 square feet - a nearly 8 percent increase in the facility's size - bringing the plant up to 1.74 million square feet of space. The new space houses the casting and machining of engine cylinder sleeves, crankshafts, camshafts and connecting rods.

The company had an aggressive time schedule for the project, which received company approval in early 2006, project manager Jim Hranica said. Construction began in August 2006 and the plant phased-in startups of the various lines throughout this year.

"I think one of the big challenges was we tried to do it without adding a lot of people, other than what was necessary to run the new line. Our team of technical people was just limited to what we were actually going to use on the new line," Hranica said. "We didn't have a big, big project team. A lot of those guys were running mass production at the same time, but they did a very good job. I think it just goes back to the experience and expertise of the people we have here."

The project created 100 new jobs at the plant, which has 2,750 associates. The entire project came in 4.4 percent under budget, Smith said.