September 13, 2017 by Elizabeth Bechdol, Director of Agribusiness Strategies
Ice Miller Director of Agribusiness Strategies Beth Bechdol joined Governor Eric Holcomb as part of a state delegation to Japan. In a series of blog posts, Beth shares her experiences as part of the trade mission trip. To read part one of the blog, click here.
Governor Holcomb has been working overtime here in Tokyo to meet as many of Indiana's business partners as he can. The list is really quite long:
- Ryobi has a facility in Shelbyville.
- Keihin has facilities in Anderson, Muncie and Greenfield.
- Subaru's Lafayette assembly plant is the only one located outside of Japan.
- Mitsubishi Heavy Industries operates in Franklin.
- Honda employs 2,000 Hoosiers at its Greensburg facility.
- Nippon Steel & Sumitomo Metal Corporation is the world's second largest steel company and has operations in New Carlisle, Seymour and Shelbyville.
- Hitachi Global has subsidiaries operating in Plainfield, New Albany, Greensburg and Michigan City.
- Mitsubishi Corporation operates Indiana Packers Corporation, a pork processing business in Delphi, and Nikkei MC Aluminum America, Inc., a secondary aluminum manufacturer, in Columbus.
These meetings give Indiana the opportunity to thank these businesses for investing in our state and so many of our local communities. The Governor has often been accompanied by the mayors and other officials from these cities and towns. Indiana's leadership in the automotive, advanced manufacturing and agricultural industries has clearly been on display in each of these discussions. Governor Holcomb also makes a point to describe Indiana's Next Level priorities around innovation and workforce.
It's also been fun to continue to celebrate together the win of Japanese driver Takuma Sato of this year's Indy 500. The engine from his winning car, his helmet and even his finish line milk bottle are prominently on display at Honda!
