By Karen E. Thuermer The auto industry may have been on respirators several years ago, but today the prognosis is: strong and recovering quickly. The Rx cure: Companies restructured, brought in new management, reduced their manufacturing footprint, and right sized their number of employees. They also introduced supply management schemes with third party logistics operators (3PLs), and implemented much more innovation. “Today they are producing a little over 11 million vehicles,” says Bruce Belzowski, Assistant Research Scientist, University of Michigan’s Transportation Research Institute. “GM and Ford are profitable and Chrysler is near profitability.” Boosted by favorable foreign exchange rates and an ample supply of affordable labor, the big news now is their ramp up for the export market. In fact, according to the Jan. 26, 2012 edition of the Wall Street Journal, the United States has emerged as a favored location for making vehicles for export, particularly for Japan’s big three auto makers. Japanese Auto Makers Ramp Up Capacity As stated in that particular article (“Car Makers Turn to U.S. Plants” by Neal E. Boudette), “Toyota Motor Corp., Honda Motor Co. and Nissan Motor Co. are ramping up capacity in their U.S. plants with the intention of shipping U.S.-made models to Europe, Korea, the Middle East and other parts of the world.” The article further states that “this comes as all three are seeking relief from the strong yen…which causes them to lose money on many of the vehicles they export from Japan. After experiencing earthquake, tsunami, and yen fluctuation, many Japanese auto makers are discussing methods of minimizing the export output of domestic assembly plants and increasing product assembly overseas. Recently, Toyota announced plans to become the top exporter of vehicles manufactured in North America. Its goal: to ship more exports than Detroit’s Big 3; General Motors, Ford and Chrysler. Currently, Toyota exports less than four percent of the cars it manufacturers in its six U.S. plants. Its Sienna and Camry are slated for export to South Korea. Prior to the announcement, the Camry was exported to South Korea from neighboring Japan. Toyota recently reported that it wants to reduce its exports out of Japan, pegged at around 1.7 million vehicles a year, to 1.5 million to escape currency losses. Honda also announced plans increase its exports from its North American operations. In 2010, Honda exported 32,978 cars from its U.S. plants to more than 20 countries, a tiny fraction of the more than 1.2 million it produces annually. Honda is moving to increase North American production. It has added a second shift at its Greensburg, IN, plant that makes the Civic. The company is also building an $800 million plant in Celaya, Mexico. In addition, Honda is making an $11.1 billion capital investment in its nine U.S. manufacturing facilities. The lion’s share of that investment ($8 billion) slated for its Ohio operations in and around Marysville. “Honda’s Marysville operation is the oldest operating, foreign-owned auto plant in North America,” comments Ron Lietzke, Honda spokesman. Among those investments is $50 million to expand Honda’s transmission plant in Russells Point, Ohio, to increase capacity for the casting of aluminum transmission cases. The 75,000-square-foot expansion will house high-pressure die-casting operations to support the addition of a third transmission assembly line that began construction in December 2010. A new assembly line announced earlier, part of a 200,000-square foot plant expansion, will increase the plant’s capabilities to manufacture Honda’s latest transmission technologies This latest project brings the company’s total new capital investment in its Ohio operations to more than $400 million, and more than $8 billion since the company started manufacturing in the state in 1979. During an interview by this AJOT reporter at the Honda site in Marysville last summer, Lietzke revealed that 80 percent of Hon