Bettina Puckett, Shelbyville News Staff Writer
Local officials are practically giddy with excitement about the news that American Honda Motor Co. may build a new North American auto plant in nearby Greensburg.
An official announcement is expected to be made at 10:30 a.m. today during a news conference at the Greensburg Community Learning Center.
Many elected officials who were contacted Tuesday evening were politicking at the Shelby County Fair.
“This could be one of the most exciting things that’s ever happened to Shelby County — even if it’s in Decatur County,” said Shelbyville Mayor Scott Furgeson.
Furgeson said the plant would benefit a number of businesses in Shelby County. “We already have Japanese companies here that are doing business with Honda,” he said. “(The new plant) will further their growth.”
The $400 million plant would employ 1,500 workers and produce 200,000 vehicles per year.
Furgeson said that one “down side” — at least during the short term — is that the high-paying Honda jobs might lure local workers away from jobs here in Shelby County. “The plant could deplete our workers,” he said. “It could be hard on our existing industry to fill those (lost) jobs. Obviously, we’d like to keep the jobs we have now.”
However, one major benefit could be housing. Honda workers — especially those with a spouse who works in Indianapolis — may find Shelbyville’s location the perfect setting in which to live. “With our proximity between Indianapolis and Greensburg, people who lived here would be 20 minutes from work and 30 minutes from Indianapolis,” Furgeson said.
“We’re going to get the existing industries that will be benefiting from it, plus some new (companies) out of it,” Furgeson said. “This will be a big plus for us.”
Tony Newton, a Shelby County commissioner who represents the South District, said the location of the 1,656-acre plant is about 15 minutes from his home near Waldron. “It’s only six or seven miles from the St. Paul exit (on Interstate 74),” he said.
“I think it will be tremendous,” Newton said. “We’re in a good position here. The plant will create several spin-off businesses and suppliers.”
Newton said he does not believe that Honda will be looking to fill “general-labor” type of positions. “Most of those jobs will be skilled labor, like machinists and tool-and-die workers.”
Honda will likely draw workers from 75 to 100 miles away, including those living in Indianapolis and Cincinnati, Newton said. “They will be flooded with job applicants,” he said.
The jobs will not be available overnight. But Honda officials hope to have the plant built by 2008.
Sean Eberhart, president of the Shelby County Council, said the plant will bring nothing but good news to the area.
“I think we’ll benefit just as much as Decatur County will, although we won’t see the property tax revenue come in. But we’re close enough to that site that we’ll see suppliers, plus some of their workers will live here.”
Eberhart said the only thing that would have been better would have been to have the Honda plant locate in Shelby County. “But if we can’t get it, it’s nice that a neighboring county can get it,” he said. “I think Honda will be an excellent neighbor and community partner for Greensburg.”
Eberhart said it is exciting to think that many of the Honda workers may make their homes in Shelby County. “It would be a logical location since we are between Greensburg and Indianapolis,” he said. “I hope we are receptive to them as a community. I want to open my arms up to them and welcome them. I hope that’s the way we all approach it.”
Bob Carmony, a member of the Shelby County Council, said the Honda plant could affect Shelby County industry and its labor force.
“It will have a big impact on the job training efforts in Shelby County,” Carmony said. “I would look for a big increase there. We would also see a pretty big increase in housing with Shelbyville being halfway between Indianapolis and Greensburg. It will be interesting to see where the dust settles.”
Carmony said he believes there will be continued efforts to increase the “educational inventory” in Shelby County to train future workers. Past endeavors have included bringing Indiana Wesleyan University’s satellite campus to Intelliplex, Shelby County’s certified technology park. Intelliplex also features Purdue University’s regional Technical Assistance Program, which assists businesses with developing new technologies and manufacturing processes.
On May 17, Honda officials said they planned to build the new plant in the Midwest as part of the company’s $1.2 billion global expansion. Ohio, which already has two Honda plants, was also in the running.
Officials have said that the Honda plant would help to invigorate Indiana’s economy, which has lost 98,000 industrial jobs since 2000.
Honda opened its first U.S. plant in 1979 and directly employs more than 25,000 Americans, according to its Web site. More than 100,000 workers are employed at authorized Honda automobile, motorcycle and power-equipment dealerships in the United States. Tens of thousands of additional Americans are employed by more than 600 U.S. suppliers from which Honda purchases parts and materials.
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