December 18, 2014 12:00 AM

Honda opens $35 million heritage, training center in Ohio

HONDA

An area of the museum is dedicated to Honda's racing efforts.

Honda Motor Co. today opened a $35 million heritage and training center in Marysville, Ohio, the city where the company became the first Japanese automaker to build a car -- the Accord -- in the U.S., 32 years ago.

The Honda Heritage Center, a 160,000-square-foot facility, features a museum showcasing the company’s product history, a Technical Development Center for employees and offices for Honda North America. The museum will be open to the public starting in January.

“The new Honda Heritage Center is a collection of Honda dreams in the form of products that are responsible for millions of customer relationships,” Takuji Yamada, COO of Honda’s North American regional operations, said in a statement.

“The great variety of products on display -- including powersports, power equipment and automobiles, as well as aviation and robotics -- together with the major milestones highlighted, tell the stories of Honda associates in Ohio and from throughout North America,” he added.

Museum displays highlight the evolution of Honda’s motorcycles, automobiles and power equipment.

The 1974 Civic with CVCC engine technology helped Honda gain acceptance in the U.S. car market.

The museum also features Honda technologies, such as a replica of the humanoid robot ASIMO, and the HondaJet, which will be delivered to customers starting in 2015.

About 60 products will be on display at the museum, including:

The C100 Super Cub, the motorcycle that became one of Honda’s early successes in America.

The CR250R motocross, the first motorcycle manufactured at Honda’s Marysville motorcycle plant on Sept. 10, 1979.

The 1974 Civic with CVCC engine technology and launched during the oil crisis. Honda’s sales of the model doubled to 103,000 units from 1974 to 1975, helping the company gain acceptance in the U.S. car market.

The Honda Heritage Center joins other U.S. collections such as the Henry Ford Museum in Dearborn, Mich., which is open to the public, and the private Walter P. Chrysler Museum in Auburn Hills, Mich.

GM maintains a North American heritage center in Sterling Heights, Mich., which allows visits by appointment. Mercedes-Benz opened a Classic Center with vehicle displays in Irvine, Calif., in 2006.

Honda said the Technical Development Center will help hone the skills of engineers, equipment service technicians and production associates who work in plants throughout North America.

“Honda is committed to investing in its team of associates and this new training center will allow our associates to continually develop their manufacturing skills so that they can lead the production of critical global models,” Tom Shoupe, COO of Honda of America Manufacturing, said in the statement.

“As we introduce more sophisticated technologies in our products and in our plants, we are working to ensure that our associates are equipped with the skills required for the manufacturing demands of the future,” he added.

Honda became the first Japanese automaker to assemble vehicles in the United States when its $250 million assembly plant opened in Marysville, Ohio, in 1982. The first Accord off the line in November 1982 was a gray, four-door sedan. Fifty percent of the content on the initial Accords was U.S.-sourced, and the first models were sold only east of the Mississippi River.

The Technical Development Center, which is funded with a grant from JobsOhio, has five classrooms and robotic manufacturing cells that will give technicians a “hands-on experience,” Honda said.

Classes will cover fluid power, maintenance math and frequency drives, but advanced training for specialized areas, such as die molds and machining, also will be available, the statement said.