Honda is expanding its campus in central Ohio with two new facilities opening early next year.
Honda plans to pay $53 million for the construction of two buildings on its Central Ohio campus to house information technology and market quality operations for Honda in North America.
The first of the two, according to the automaker, is the 38,000-square-foot Ohio Data Center. It will join a similar facility near Denver, Colorado, to house key information technologies for Honda, increasing secure data storage capabilities in North America.
The larger 98,000-square-foot North American Quality Center building will consolidate operations for several Honda organizations dedicated to product quality. Blending those staffs increases the company’s ability to study and respond to customer feedback more effectively.
“Creating a more efficient and effective way for our associates to respond to our customers is the primary goal of our new regional market quality facility,” said Rick Schostek, executive vice president of Honda North America Inc.
“The global reliance on data from North America has grown year by year and our new data center will help us manage this responsibility,” he added.
The campus that designs and builds the new Acura NSX is growing again.
The two new facilities will be located in Raymond, Ohio, and are scheduled to be open by early 2017 with the help of Union County, JobsOhio, Columbus 2020, the Ohio Development Services Agency and the Ohio Department of Transportation, Honda officials said.
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Honda’s expansion comes after it announced its U.S. sales dropped 4.2% during October – a performance mirrored by most automakers last month.
The Japanese automaker has a long history in Ohio, launching its first operations in the Buckeye State in September 1979 with the production of motorcycles in Marysville, Ohio.
In November 1982, Honda became the first Japanese automaker to produce automobiles in the U.S. at its nearby Marysville Auto Plant. Construction of an engine plant in Anna, Ohio, and a second Ohio auto plant located in East Liberty followed.
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A third automotive plant, the Performance Manufacturing Center in Marysville, started exclusive production of the 2017 Acura NSX this year, the only supercar designed, developed and manufactured entirely in the U.S. In fact, the company noted the NSX, which Road & Track named its 2017 Performance Car of the Year, enjoyed its best sales month this year.
Located near its Ohio plants, Honda R&D Americas Ohio Center is Honda’s largest R&D Center outside Japan. It is now responsible for engineers all-new products for Honda and Acura customers.
Honda now operates 13 companies in Ohio, producing a wide range of Honda and Acura automobiles, engines and transmissions. Since 1982 has manufactured over 17 million automobiles in the state.
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Honda companies in North America represent a cumulative investment of more than $22 billion and employ more than 40,000 associates in the design, development, manufacture, marketing, financing and servicing of Honda and Acura automobiles, Honda power sports products and Honda power equipment products.