Green adding plant to supply Honda

The factory will employ 120 people in Marion, Ohio

By Tesfaye N. Asfaw, Columbus Dispatch Business Reporter, July 28, 1999

Ernie Green, former running back for the Cleveland Browns, has scored big with plans to supply Honda of America Manufacturing with auto parts.

His company, Ernie Green Industries, said yesterday that construction has started on an $18 million factory in Marion, Ohio that will produce suspension assemblies for Honda plants in Marysville and East Liberty, Ohio. Startup of the 144,000-square-foot plant is expected in March.

It will employ 120 within two years.

“It signifies that we have developed a relationship with Honda,” Green said. “They are obviously pleased with what we have done in the past.”

At its other Ohio factories in Circleville, Athens and New Madison, privately held Ernie Green Industries makes a number of products for Honda, including plastic wheel covers. The company has supplied Honda for 10 years.

Sam Morgan, vice president of Dayton-based Ernie Green Industries, said employment will grow in proportion to its sales to Honda.

Marion Mayor Jack Kellogg said that the city has granted tax incentives for the company. He couldn’t estimate the value.

Green played for the Browns for seven years, including the 1964 National Football League championship squad. He retired in 1968 and started Ernie Green Industries in 1981.

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