Honda Pushes Forward with New Auto Paint Shop in Ontario

Researched by Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)--President Donald Trump's plans for changes to the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) notwithstanding, Honda of Canada Manufacturing in Alliston, Ontario, is pushing forward with its US$370 million state-of-the-art auto paint shop expansion.

The automaker is preparing its main assembly lines for the next generation models of the Civic and CR-V, and to complete a paint shop to be located about 100 kilometers northwest of Toronto. Honda of Canada selected Gillam Group Incorporated (Toronto, Ontario) to build the paint shop, which will help cut greenhouse gas emissions from its paint process by 44%. Construction of the paint shop kicked off in first-quarter 2017. Estimated completion of the paint shop is third-quarter 2019. The new paint department will use a waterborne paint process that will create fewer odors, with hopes of bringing relief to nearby residents.

Honda of Canada Manufacturing is located a 45-acre site, with two vehicle production plants, an engine plant and a stamping forming plant, employing about 4,000 full-time employees. In 2015, the operation was producing 385,000 vehicles and 221,000 engines per year. Honda's investment was supported by the Ontario and federal governments. Honda Canada Chief Executive Jerry Chenkin said in a statement that the new paint shop is among the US$492 million in upgrades being made at the plant over a three-year period.

The Alliston, Ontario, plant is not unionized, and it was not part of the talks that trade union Unifor had with the big three automakers last fall, where the automakers Ford Motor Company (NYSE:F) (Dearborn, Michigan), General Motors (NYSE:GM) (Detroit, Michigan) and Fiat Chrysler Automobiles (NYSE:FCAU) (London, England) commited nearly US$1.6 billion to their Canadian operations.

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