Tuesday 10-1 Touring the Honda Plant

Another awesome day

We had an awesome day. We spent the night at the Airstream Plant. 

Last night when I went to bed our plan was to go about 20 miles west to visit another site we thought would be interesting but when I got up this morning Larry had found something to the east. When we were on the Airstream tour the gentleman giving the tour said Airstream had lost some workers to Honda when they built a new assembly plant not far away. This morning Larry found that the Honda Car Manufacturing plant in Marysville offers free tours of their Heritage Center and a manufacturing site. He registered for us for the 12:15 tour. The Honda Heritage Center was only 35 miles from where we were so we waited until about 11 to leave. The lady coordinating the tour said the plant tour would be at the East Liberty Plant which was 5 miles away. We had time to walk around the Heritage Center. The center was very nice and had displays explaining the history of Honda in the area and the vehicles they produced in the United States. One display gave you the opportunity to drive a race car, it was cool but I failed to keep the car on the track. There were displays of the first car that was built in the U.S.A., which was the 1970 N600. Then in 1975 they introduced the Civic. They had a great display on the first engine they built in the United States, which was the GL1200 in 1985. After touring the Heritage Center I walked outside and watched a Honda robot mowing the lawn, this was so cool and it did a great job. 

Larry checking out a 1982 Aspencade

1970 N600 first Honda Automobile made in the United States

2009 Gold Wing

Larry checking out his racing skills

Larry hanging out with his new friend

A display that shows how a robot works

A robotic lawn mower

When everyone was finished touring the Heritage Center a security guard led all of us to the East Liberty Plant. The guided tour was an hour and a half long. We were greeted at the entrance by four retired employees who took us on the tour. We split into two groups. We had a group of new associates, who went with two ladies and the rest of us went with the other two ladies. Before leaving the room we were given safety glasses to wear and a radio with ear buds. We weren't allowed to take pictures during the tour. The tour took us through the beginning of the process to the ending. The plant was automated with robots. We saw the robots welding, assembling auto parts, installing engines, doors, etc... and the robots put the auto parts on conveyors so they can go to the next operation. This site is setup to produce 900 vehicles a day. It was very interesting to see a car built from the bottom up. The ladies did a super job. With all the automation you might think they don't need that many employees, well the East Liberty site is huge and has 2800 employees. In total Honda employs 31,000 people in the US. This was a really good tour, it did require a lot of walking and we had to use some stairs.

Our tour group walking to the entrance to the East Liberty Plant

After the tour we headed towards our next destination, which was Lake Loramie State Park.

Lake Loramie State Park is 407 acres with 1,655 acres of water. The canal goes around the whole park. Lake Loramie was originally constructed in 1824-25 as storage reservoir to supply water to the Miami-Erie Canal. It's a beautiful park with a beach, hiking trails, camping, playground, horseshoe pits, volleyball courts and picnic area. The campground has sites with electric or non-electric. Some of the sites are on the water. They have bathrooms with running water and the showers are separate. They have bridges that go over the canal. I walked around the campground.

Bridge over the canal

Canal that goes around the park

Getting ready for Thanksgiving

Camping at Lake Loramie State Park