Reply #25: let's check the facts, shall we?

[Syrinx]

Mark Morrison, spokesman for Honda in Lincoln, said he was puzzled by Fedchun's comments. Honda has invested $1.1 billion in Alabama since 1996 and set company records in establishing operations. The automaker now has 4,500 employees in the state. "Obviously, Honda electing to expand its operation before we even got Line 1 at full capacity speaks volumes of the quality of the workforce that we have in Alabama," Morrison said. The Lincoln plant handles all North American production of the Odyssey minivan, which was once made at Honda's plant in Ontario. "The goals that we have met and exceeded have been a tribute to the capability and trainability of our workforce," he said.

As for Fedchun's claims that Honda has had to use pictures to train its workers, Morrison said other than engineering diagrams that all manufacturers use, that is not true.

"No, we have not had to do that," he said.

*snip*

Dennis Cuneo, senior vice president of Toyota's North American operations, took exception to Fedchun's comments in a letter Thursday.
"We operate an engine plant in Huntsville, Ala., and I was in charge of the site selection for that plant," Cuneo wrote to Fedchun. "We spent a considerable amount of time and effort in the site selection process, and carefully studied the skill levels of the potential workforce before we selected our Alabama site." Cuneo noted that nearly one-third of the workers at the Huntsville plant are college graduates and 97 percent have at least a high school education."Huntsville ... is the city that put the first man on the moon," Cuneo wrote. "Huntsville ranks second among the top metropolitan areas in the U.S. for scientists and engineers per capita, and has the second largest research and technology park in the U.S."

*snip*

Cuneo said Toyota has already announced two expansions in Huntsville and will have $490 million invested and employ about 800 when the projects are completed. "As you might imagine, that kind of investment is confirmation of the confidence that we have in our Alabama workforce," he wrote.

*snip*

http://www.al.com/business/birminghamnews/index.ssf?/base/business/1120814483136400.xml&coll=2&thispage=1