Shige Yoshida, retired Executive VP and Chief Operating Officer of Honda of America Manufacturing, spoke Monday at the Columbus Rotary. Yoshida spoke on a number of topics including the decision to locate Honda’s motorcycle plant in Marysville. Shown on the screen is launch of the Honda Civic.
(Journal-Tribune photo by Kevin Behrens)
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Editor’s note: This is the first in a multi-part series based on talks given by Honda officials at the Columbus Rotary. In a rare sequence of two consecutive Monday meetings, the Rotarians invited Shige Yoshida, retired executive vice president and chief operating officer of Honda of America Manufacturing, and Tom Shoupe, the current executive vice president and chief operating officer of Honda of America Manufacturing. Honda officials also discussed a variety of topics with the Journal-Tribune following the meetings.
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A private decision made in a Sheridan Hotel room at the corner of Third and Gay streets in Columbus changed the course of history for Union County and nearly every family in it.
At a Monday meeting of the Columbus Rotary, Shige Yoshida, retired Executive VP and Chief Operating Officer of Honda of America Manufacturing, told the story of how Honda decided on Marysville and how the company did so without governmental assistance.
Yoshida explained that in 1973 he came to America to study suppliers. He said the Honda philosophy was not to look at financial reports, but people and communities. He said he would stand outside company gates and observe workers as they walked into and out of the plants. Yoshida said he would go to local family restaurants because it is “a very good place to observe people in a local community.”
After the very successful launch of the Civic, U.S. dealers wanted more vehicles and Honda officials commissioned a feasibility study to determine if Honda could build vehicles in America and if so, where.
Nevada wanted the plant. So did California. But Yoshida said Ohio had something.
“I was impressed by the people in Ohio,” Yoshida said, noting that Ohioans are, “modest, not rough.”
Once Ohio was identified, state officials helped Honda narrow selection to five sites Yoshida called “marginal.”
Then Gov. Jim Rhodes also wanted to make a stop to showoff the state Traffic Research Center in Union County. Yoshida called it Rhode’s “pet project.”
At the TRC, Yoshida said he saw the same thing he looked for with suppliers.
“Their job is very, very tough,” Yoshida said. “But they are joyous and well spoken. They are enjoying their life and that is most impressive to me.”
He said that while officials were still at the site, they asked about available nearby land. A quick look at a map found the future site of the Marysville Motorcycle Plant.
He said the delegation returned to Columbus and discussed what they had observed. Officials knew the plant needed flat land, highway access and proximity to a commercial airport.
“I talked a lot about the people at TRC, the people we met that day,” Yoshida said.
He said the next day, Honda officials went to the statehouse.
“We told Gov. Rhodes we hoped our site would be on the land, just east of the TRC,” Yoshida said. “‘Ok,’ he said. ‘We will buy it and give it to you.’ No thanks, governor. We want to buy it at a reasonable price.”
Yoshida said the state did pay about $2.5 million in site development and six months after the agreement was signed, Honda broke ground on the Marysville Motorcycle Plant.
He said observers were surprised at the small amount of help Honda official requested from the state. Yoshida said that several years earlier, Volkswagen had “encouraged a bidding war” between several states.
“That was not our way,” Yoshida said.
Scott Whitlock, the first American Executive Vice President of the company, said that several other companies had asked for government assistance.
By the time his company decided to locate in Marysville, Soichiro Honda had retired.
Even so, after getting approval from the Honda board of directors for the Marysville site, officials wanted the founder’s blessing.
“He was so pleased with that,” Yoshida said.
But when asked about specifics of the plant in America, Yoshida said Soichiro Honda cursed and told them they should decide.
“I was so happy,” Yoshida said.
Yoshida said today, everyone knows Marysville for the Honda plant and he only “vaguely” remembers the other five sites.
Yoshida said when asked why the company chose Ohio, Soichiro Honda, “without heisting, he said ‘Providence guided us.’”