Mike Kvochick - Audiobook (Honda and MPW)
Description
Vocal Characteristics
Language
EnglishVoice Age
Young Adult (18-35)Accents
North American (General)Transcript
Note: Transcripts are generated using speech recognition software and may contain errors.
Chapter five East Meets West in Marysville, Ohio. Perhaps one of James A. Rhodes greatest accomplishments during his record setting 16 year tenure as governor of Ohio was persuading Japan's Honda Motor Company to build its first U. S plant in Mary's Fill, a small town northwest of Columbus best known for producing fertilizer and grass seed. What roads couldn't know was that Honda's decision to transform the Pastoral Mary's Ville countryside into a major manufacturing center would have profound consequences for M. P W. It was the mid 19 seventies when Honda decided it wanted to produce vehicles in the United States. The company assembled a team of managers to scout sites and narrowed its choices to locations in Ohio and Tennessee. When roads, always the champion of bringing jobs to the Buckeye State, learned of Honda's interest, he put his economic development team at Honda's disposal. They quickly honed in on Mary's Ville because of the availability of workers, it's flat terrain, good access to transportation and proximity to the state run Transportation Research Center. Hunters announcement in October 1977 that it had selected Mary's Villas. Its first sight for US vehicle production was big news worldwide. After all, Honda was the first Japanese vehicle manufacturer to attempt production in the United States At the time. It was an extreme vote of confidence and considered somewhat of a gamble. The Big Three GM, Ford and Chrysler were struggling with quality problems and low mileage behemoths that were uncompetitive in the new era of scarcer gasoline. The Japanese were taking the U. S auto market by storm, embarrassing their American counterparts and quality, innovation and efficiency. But many people were skeptical that the Japanese would be able to replicate their quality products in the United States. Even Honda was cautious. It built on Lee motorcycles for the first few years of U. S production.