Honda to Open new Plant in Mexico

Honda plans in 2014 to open $800 million plant in suburb of Celaya,Guanajuato to produce up to 200,000 subcompact cars per year. Site will have about 3,200 workers and 5.66 million square meters of space. Cars will be produced for Mexican and North American markets.

Celaya, Guanajuato is about 210 miles east of Honda de Mexicos's two current plants in El Salto, Jalisco, which build automobiles, motorcycles and auto parts.

Honda will then have eight factories in North America, including 10 assembly lines.


The new plant will boost Honda's automobile production capacity in North America from present 1.63 million units to 1.83 million units in 2014. In 2010, more than 87 percent of Honda and Acura cars and light trucks sold in the United States were produced in North America.

In North America, Honda builds global models such as Civic, Accord and CR-V as well as region-specific light truck models including the Odyssey and Pilot. The smallest automobile currently built by Honda in North America is the compact Honda Civic, which is built at Honda factories in Indiana and Ontario, Canada.

Besides the new auto plant in Mexico, Honda recently announced plans to expand production at several Honda plants in the U.S. and Canada:

The plant in Greensburg, Indiana, which produces the Civic Sedan and Civic Natural Gas vehicle, will add a new second shift in October.

The Marysville, Ohio, auto plant which builds the Accord Sedan and Coupe, and the Acura TL, will reinstate second-shift production on Line 1 by the end of 2011, resuming full, two-shift production for the first time since January 2009.

In Canada, Alliston Plant 1, which manufactures the Civic Sedan, Civic Coupe, Civic Si coupe and sedan, and the Civic HF, will return to full, two-shift operations in September. In May, the plant consolidated its two shifts into one-shift operation to cope with parts supply issues following the Japan earthquake.


http://www.honda.com/newsandviews/article.aspx?id=6153-en

Tampa Cargo Re-certified

Tampa Cargo was re-certified by US under C-TPAT (Customs Trade Partnership Against Terrorism) program. It has been certified since 2002.

Tampa is a 100% owned subsidiary of Colombian airline Avianca and has four 767-200SFs.

http://www.avianca.com/NR/rdonlyres/EC6FBFBF-35D8-4A4A-AD84-3F504813BE69/28456/N601recertificaciónTAMPA100811ENG.pdf

Delta and Aeromexico Joint Venture

Delta Air Lines and Aeromexico signed a MOU to open a MRO (maintenance, repair and voerhaul) joint venture in Mexico in 3Q2013.

http://news.delta.com/index.php?s=43&item=1426

Canadian Election

The Canadian Election of 2011 took the Conservative Party from governing through a minority overnment to a firm majority government. This result should help it promote its pro-business and lower tax plans. Prime Minister Stephen Harper will remain in his position.

The Liberal Party was decimated as voters moved to the more left-leaning NDP (New Democrat Part). The Bloq Quebecois also lsot most of its seats.

The overall result helps stabilize the national Canadian government and should make it less risky for potential business investors.

FedEx in Chicago

FedEx Trade Networks, a subsidiary of FedEx Corporation, a growing international ocean and air freight forwarder, announced the opening of its new Chicago gateway office. The new FedEx Trade Networks Chicago office provides expanded service offerings to customers, including a full portfolio of freight forwarding, customs brokerage and distribution solutions. The office, located at 1101 Busse Road, Elk Grove Village, has more than 104,000 sq. ft. of space, with more than 85,000 sq. ft. dedicated to distribution, and is strategically located with easy access to Chicago O’Hare International airport (ORD) and intermodal rail facilities. The office’s proximity to the airport and rail yards, and onsite warehouse and distribution capabilities, enables the FedEx Trade Networks Chicago office to serve as a gateway to support the end-to-end supply chain needs of the company’s freight forwarding and customs brokerage customers. In utilizing a gateway operating model in Chicago, the company can offer highly efficient and cost effective entry/exit point solutions for consolidated, heavy weight, international cargo shipments. FedEx Trade Networks is now in an aggressive global expansion and has opened a total of 33 new freight forwarding offices throughout Asia, Europe, the Middle East, Africa and Latin America since 2008, in addition to over 70 existing locations in the U.S. and Canada. As the company continues to grow, so do its North American operations. In addition to opening the new Chicago office, the company has recently relocated its Seattle, Dallas, New York (JFK), Miami, and Charlotte offices to larger, strategically-located facilities. FedEx Trade Networks, and its predecessor companies, have more than 100 years of experience in international trade. The company provides comprehensive ocean and air international freight forwarding, customs brokerage, global order logistics, distribution and surface transportation, trade advisory services, and advanced e-commerce and trade facilitation solutions. http://ftn.fedex.com/

http://www.fedex.com/

Access to transportation is always a key in manufacturing success. With intermodal transport such as rail/truck containers in use, the gateway concept can simplify transport concerns across the borders and within the countries.

Cohen Group Staff Expansion

The Cohen Group announced that Ambassador Jeffrey Davidow, former Assistant Secretary of State for Western Hemisphere Affairs, Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary for African Affairs and U.S. Ambassador to Mexico, Venezuela, and Zambia, has joined the firm as a Senior Counselor. The addition of Ambassador Davidow to a team that includes Ambassador Craig Kelly, former Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Western Hemisphere Affairs and U.S. Ambassador to Chile, puts The Cohen Group's Latin America practice at the forefront of strategy and advisory firms, as well as further strengthening the firm's expertise and reach in Africa. Ambassador Davidow had a 34-year career in the Foreign Service, retiring in 2003 with the rank of Career Ambassador, the highest position in the Foreign Service which, by law, can be held by no more than five individuals at one time. Since 2003, he has been President of the Institute of the Americas, one of the leading think tanks addressing Latin American-U.S.-Canadian political, economic, business and social issues. The Institute is particularly well known for its leadership on energy and technology issues. President Obama recruited the ambassador to take a leave in 2009 to organize and be presidential advisor for the Summit of the Americas. His career began at the U.S. Embassy in Guatemala and then served in other embassies in Chile, South Africa and Venezuela as well as in several positions in the State Department in Washington. He was the first U.S. diplomatic representative in Zimbabwe. In 1988, President Ronald Reagan appointed him U.S. Ambassador to Zambia, a position he held until 1990, when he became Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Africa. In 1993, President Clinton appointed Ambassador Davidow to be U.S. Ambassador to Venezuela, a position he held pior returning to Washington in 1996 to be Assistant Secretary for Western Hemisphere Affairs, the State Department's chief policymaker for the Western Hemisphere. In 1998, President Clinton appointed Ambassador Davidow to be U.S. Ambassador to Mexico, where he served until 2002. After leaving Mexico in September 2002, he became a Visiting Fellow at the John F. Kennedy School of Government and the David Rockefeller Center for Latin American Studies. Ambassador Davidow writings include two books, one on negotiations involving South Africa and the other, The U.S. and Mexico: The Bear and the Porcupine, a bestseller in Mexico and a prominent textbook at American universities. The Cohen Group is an international business advisory group led by former Secretary of Defense William Cohen. Founded in 2001, TCG assists U.S. and non-U.S. corporate clients to develop & execute strategies to accelerate organic & inorganic growth around the world, including identifying & pursuing opportunities and overcoming challenges that arise. The Cohen Group has more than 50 professionals with experience working in top-level positions in Congress, the White House, the State Department, the Defense Department, the Department of Homeland Security, the intelligence community, other federal agencies, and in European and Asian governments, international organizations and the private sector. The Cohen Group has offices in Washington, London, Beijing, Tianjin, and New Delhi to provide its clients with the insights and intelligence needed to better understand and shape the business, political, legal, regulatory, and media environments in which they operate. This includes both developing strategic business plans to help clients achieve their objectives, and actively participating with clients in the execution of those plans. The Cohen Group practice groups include Aerospace & Defense; Homeland Security; China; India; Telecommunications and Information Technology; Energy & Resources; Transportation & Logistics; Health Care & Life Sciences; Financial Services & Investment; and Real Estate, serving clients in North America, East Asia, South Asia, Europe, Russia, Australia, Africa and Latin America. http://www.cohengroup.net

New Factory in Aguascalientes

Minneapolis-based Donaldson Company (NYSE:DCI) announced that construction will begin on another manufacturing facility in Aguascalientes, Mexico. This new 140,000 square foot facility will produce air filters for markets in the Americas. Donaldson’s existing plant in Aguascalientes, which currently supplies both air and liquid filters, will specialize in liquid filters upon the completion of this new air filter plant.

Donaldson is a worldwide provider of filtration systems with 12,500 employees at more than 100 sales, manufacturing, and distribution locations worldwide.

Donaldson is included in the S&P MidCap 400 and Russell 1000 indices.

www.donaldson.com.