Honda Plans to Break Ground on New Energy-Efficient Paint Line
Honda has made a major new investment in its oldest and largest manufacturing plant in North America. As part of the brand’s ongoing efforts to reduce its environmental impact while still producing high-quality vehicles, the Marysville Auto Plant (MAP) is set to receive a $210 million high-tech, energy-efficient paint line. Auto body painting can represent more than sixty percent of a plant’s total energy use, and Honda is looking to change that.
The new MAP paint line will be designed to dramatically decrease energy usage, water usage, and chemical emissions during the vehicle painting process. When it’s all set up, this new paint line will be Honda’s most energy-efficient line in the U.S. Workers will break ground on the 300,000 square foot facility this December, and should have it completed by December 2017. The new line will paint around 229,000 vehicles each year.
One of the new technologies to be implemented in the new facility is a 4-coat, 2-bake short process, eliminating the need for one primer-coat curing oven. The new process will also involve using 2K waterborne primer designed exclusively for Honda. By combining the new 2k waterborne primer coat and waterborne base coat, Honda will be able to reduce emissions from volatile organic compounds (VOC) by nearly 66 percent.
Honda also has a plan in place to reduce water usage by implementing its “dry-booth” technology—a process that uses limestone dust instead of water to capture paint overspray. This should reduce water usage by approximately two million gallons per year. Also, by using the limestone dust instead of water, Honda will eliminate the 255 tons of paint sludge produced each year and reduce CO2 emissions by 18 percent.
In addition to drastically reducing their environmental impact, Honda is always interested in improving the appearance and quality of their vehicles. The new facility will make the vehicles produced there even sharper using a new two-step temperature curing process with more automation. Now our clients will not only be able to feel good about helping the environment, their car will look even better too.
Honda has long been working to develop technologies that will reduce the brand’s carbon footprint and address pressing energy concerns. This new paint line is just one step in the overall vision of Honda. Hall Honda Virginia Beach hopes you will support Honda’s efforts by choosing a new Honda for your next vehicle. Contact us today to schedule your test drive.
Image: Honda