Steve Dick, Herald Bulletin
steve.dick@heraldbulletin.com
Anderson tried for the 300 jobs TS Tech would be offering in its new Honda supplier factory, but, in the end, New Castle landed the business.
Next month, the Japanese company plans to start construction on a $32 million factory that will churn out about 800 car seats a day for the new Honda Motor Co. plant being built in Greensburg.
"We did meet with TS Tech," said Mary Starkey, director of the Corporation for Economic Development. "They wanted to be closer to Greensburg."
Mayor Kevin Smith said it probably helped that New Castle already has three Japanese-owned businesses, including Metaldyne in the former Chrysler plant.
"When we found out that TS Tech was looking around Indiana, we became engaged in an effort to interest them in Anderson," said the mayor. "It's obvious that those communities that attained foreign investment will attract more."
Starkey said TS Tech representatives, in town looking for an existing building, were shown General Motors' Plant 16 on Jefferson Street. "The building didn't suit their needs," she said.
"It doesn't mean anyone (in economic development) did anything wrong. We were hoping to entice them further than they wanted to go."
The 200,000-square-foot factory operated by TS Tech also will make interior trim pieces for Honda automobiles, according to the Indiana Economic Development Corp., which stated that the seats will be used for Honda Civics.
Honda spokesman Ed Miller said the seats will be used in Greensburg, about 40 miles south of New Castle in eastern Indiana. But he declined to confirm whether Civics will be made there.
Honda has said only that the new factory will make a car powered by a four-cylinder engine made in Ohio. Construction has already started on the plant, which will employ about 2,000 people when it opens in the fall of 2008.
The TS Tech factory, which will be built outside New Castle, should start production in August 2008.
The Greensburg plant will have tentacles that stretch out, and it's possible that Anderson may eventually land a supplier plant or existing businesses will benefit from Honda.
"There have been Japanese inquiries that we might associate with Honda," said Starkey. "But people don't always tell us what they're doing."
Honda has 525 suppliers in the United States and expects only a handful to build new factories for the Greensburg plant, Miller said. Most will expand existing locations.
"We expect a few more announcements like this; however, our decision to build an assembly plant in Indiana was driven by the efficiency of having a large supplier base in place in the Midwest," Miller said.
He said Honda uses "just-in-time inventory" for its car seats, meaning that they are delivered to the assembly plant a few hours before installation. Those suppliers need to be close to the factory.
"We'd lie to attract a Japanese company," said the mayor. "The first one is difficult to attain."
Smith said the city has a Japanese-language brochure to send out. "Anderson is making the investment to pursue Japanese companies."
He believes the city is on the right track to diversify its economy. "It's important we pursue our economic development efforts vigorously."
(The Associated Press contributed to this story.)