First Posted: 2/10/2015
EAST LIBERTY — The Honda plant in East Liberty will soon get a new car to produce.
The company will now produce the Acura MDX luxury SUV at its East Liberty and Lincoln, Alabama, plants, according to a release from the company.
“This move will help meet growing demand for both Honda and Acura light trucks produced in North America, including the all-new 2016 Honda Pilot launching this summer,” according to the release.
Production of the MDX is already going on at the Lincoln plant and will be added in East Liberty in 2017.
Honda will invest $85 million at the East Liberty facility for new welding equipment, to extend vehicle conveyors and other changes to support the additional production, according to the release.
“This initiative will give us greater flexibility to meet growing customer demand for our Honda and Acura light truck models,” John Mendel, executive vice president of American Honda Motor Co., Inc., said in a statement. “Increasing our flexibility and fully utilizing available production resources is critical to our future growth, which will be driven heavily by our light truck business and new models like the Honda HR-V crossover and redesigned Pilot SUV.”
The East Liberty Plant now produces the five-passenger Acura RDX sport-utility vehicle, the Honda Crosstour and the Honda CR-V.
Pet boarding company consolidates, moves to Elida
ELIDA — The Crate Escape, formerly Lima Animal Hospital, is moving to Elida.
The boarding, grooming, pet sitting and doggy daycare has an office in Elida and is closing its office in Lima to consolidate the locations into one.
In July, Lima Animal Hospital changed its name to the Crate Escape and began doing strictly boarding, grooming, pet sitting and doggy daycare, said owner April Schneider.
The company is moving from its location in Lima at 2909 Elida Rd., to its location in Elida at 706 E. Main St.
“Ultimately we’re a premiere boarding facility,” Schneider said. “We just believe in good quality care for our kids here in Lima.”
Auction results in savings for customers
COLUMBUS — A competitive auction may mean money saved on energy for Dominion customers.
As a result of the auction, customers of Dominion East Ohio can save $40 during the next year on natural gas, according to a release from the Office of the Ohio Consumers’ Counsel.
If customers purchase their natural gas at the company’s “standard choice offer.”
Chamber launches leads program
LIMA — The Lima/Allen County Chamber of Commerce is launching a new group to help local professionals network.
The Chamber Leads Network will involve groups meeting weekly to trade business leads and hear from companies who have had leads help them increase sales.
Groups will be offered at different times and dates to be available for most schedules, according to a release from the Chamber, and each member will be assigned to a group with up to 25 business people from a variety of industries.
No competitors will be in the same group.
Home sales best at end of 2014
LIMA — The amount of single-family homes and condominiums put under agreement increased by 14 percent from December 2013 to December 2014.
The Ohio Association of Realtors, a professional trade association, released its pending home sales index in late January, and though the number fell from Nov. to Dec. 2014, it was up from the same time a year before, according to the OAR release.
November 2014 saw a record pace of agreements, according to OAR, with a pending home sales index of 165.
“The Ohio housing marketplace is continuing to exhibit tremendous strength, as the number of homes put under contract in December reached an all-time high for the month and marks our eighth consecutive month of year-over-year gains,” said OAR President Greg Hrabcak in a statement. “The industry is hopeful that the momentum that’s been established throughout 2014 will continue as we move forward.”
Pending sale index posted during the fourth quarter 2014 (158.6) tops all quarters reached throughout 2014, according to the release.
Business spending increases
LIMA — Investments in new and used equipment and structures are part of the increase in capital spending by U.S. businesses logged in 2013.
The U.S. Census Bureau released information about capital spending, citing the 2013 Annual Capital Expenditures Survey, saying that it rose 4.5 percent from 2012.
The increase was from $1,423.6 billion in 2012 to $1,488.2 billion in 2013, according to a release from the Census Bureau.
The increase included investments for new and used structures and new and used equipment for companies with and without employees.
Of the 19 North American Industry Classification System major industry sectors covered in this report, the utilities sector is the only one that had a significant year-to-year decrease in capital spending, according to the release.
Eight of the sectors had significant increases in spending and the other 10 showed now significant change, according to the release.
