Indiana and Ohio vie for Honda part suppliers

GREENSBURG, Ind.-- Economic development officials in Indiana and Ohio who competed for a $550 million auto assembly plant that Honda Motor Co. announced in June would be built in southeastern Indiana are now engaged in another battle.\nThe two states are vying to attract auto suppliers that would make parts for the Greensburg plant, which will employ 2,000 workers and eventually produce 200,000 vehicles annually.\nHonda plans to spend $1.5 billion each year to provide resources to that plant.\nIndiana Commerce Secretary Mickey Maurer said he and Gov. Mitch Daniels are eager for Indiana to beat out Ohio in this next round of Honda-related growth.\n"We're going to be very aggressive," Maurer told The Indianapolis Star for a Sunday story.\nOhio has been Honda's U.S. manufacturing home since 1982, and it now operates an 11,000-worker car-making hub in west-central Ohio.\nA group of 150 Honda suppliers employ 41,000 in Ohio -- 20,000 of them dedicated to Honda parts. Nationwide, there are 525 companies in Honda's supply chain, and Indiana has 40 of those.\nEconomic incentives by state and local governments could play a larger role than usual in deciding which companies will supply Honda's Greensburg plant because potential suppliers could be just over the Indiana state line in Ohio and still be close enough to the plant.\nGreensburg, located about 50 miles southeast of Indianapolis, is just 40 miles from the Ohio state line on Interstate 74. And, because most Honda suppliers in Ohio are in that state's western half, many could serve the plant in Greensburg without moving at all.\nThe fight over suppliers began last month when Ohio announced zero-percent loans for any auto supplier that expands. The program isn't limited to Honda suppliers, but Honda's new plant prompted the program, said Ohio Lt. Gov. Bruce Johnson.\nOhio also held briefings for Honda suppliers, offering the help of multiple state agencies to pull off quick expansions.\nBut Indiana is fighting back. Hoosier officials are pitching Indiana as an ideal place for suppliers to locate if they want to serve Indiana's multiple Japanese auto companies -- Honda's Greensburg plant, the Toyota plant near Evansville and the Subaru-Toyota plant in Lafayette.\nStaff at the Indiana Economic Development Corp. are also trying the personal touch by calling executives at all of Honda's suppliers in the Midwest.\nDaniels, Maurer and other officials are scheduled to meet with many suppliers next month when Indianapolis hosts the annual meeting of the Midwest U.S.-Japan Association.\nState officials have also talked with Honda and its rival, Toyota Motor Corp. -- which will add 1,000 jobs next year to make sedans at Subaru of Indiana Automotive in Lafayette -- to identify suppliers they would most like to have near their factories.\n"We've got 10 that are looking directly at Indiana versus Ohio," said Nate Feltman, executive vice president at the Indiana Economic Development Corp.\nJody Fledderman, president of Batesville Tool & Die, expects his proximity to the Greensburg plant to bring him new business. He said his company, which makes various metal parts for Honda, has already had two visits from Honda officials since Indiana won the new plant.\n"We'll have an advantage because we're only 15 miles away," Fledderman said.