Coming full circle: Honda of America Mfg. has reconfigured its plants to conform to Honda's global New Manufacturing System while quietly re-focusing on manufacturing fundamentals

Automotive Design & Production, July, 2005 by Christopher A. Sawyer, Kermit Whitfield

It's easy to see the outward signs of how Honda of America Mfg. (HAM) has re-invented itself over the past few years. Flexible weld robots have replaced hard tooling. Assembly lines have been lengthened and processes re-shuffled for maximum efficiency. Behind the scenes, say HAM executives, even more has been going on. "We saw the need to come full-circle and focus on the fundamentals," states Tom Shoupe, vice president and plant manager at HAM's Marysville [Ohio] Auto Plant (MAP). That's because Shoupe and his management team had a sense things had gotten too complex during the launch of the latest Accord in 2002, and so set out to simplify their processes. Surprisingly, one area that needed work was basic communication.

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Clearing the Underbrush. Honda has been practicing the genchi-genbutsu (go to the actual spot, see the actual situation) approach to problem-solving for so long that it was taken for granted. But with creeping complexity comes fuzzy communication, so HAM re-emphasized getting buy-in and creating a clear understanding of the situation. "We said: 'Let's define problems and approaches and then show everybody, so that when I say something, everyone knows exactly what I mean,'" says Shoupe. While this seems like "Manufacturing 101," it pays dividends even in a seasoned production environment. Clearer definitions of specific quality problems helped MAP improve its "Quality in the Process" program, a primary tool for catching defects before they end up as warranty items. Says Shoupe, "We cleared a lot of underbrush so we could see things in a way we hadn't before."

Never Assume. The same "no assumptions" principle is applied to new model development. During the launch of the Element, HAM touted its use of the "One Floor" concept, where manufacturing and R & D engineers meet daily to develop design compromises and keep information flowing. One Floor is now the norm, but Shoupe still worries about miscommunication. "We are working hard to make sure designers clearly understand our capability to produce," he explains. "If they design something we can't build, that creates a 'loss' that must be recovered so it doesn't end up in the garage of a customer." To help avoid that, HAM involves day-to-day operations managers and line workers earlier in the development process. In the past, a plant's new model team and its business management team operated largely independently. One was, by definition, focused on the future, and the other on keeping product moving smoothly down the line and out the door. Now the two interact more fluidly. John Mayberry, Body Assembly Group senior manager at MAP, has been on both sides of the divide. He says the argument for more business team leader involvement came down to this: "If you really want to do something about the production issue we're struggling with today, you need to be on board early for the next model." That's happening. Shoupe, who recently returned from a trial build in Japan for the Acura RDX SUV that enters production at MAP next year, says there were far more daily production team members on hand than ever before. "The bar has been raised," he observes.

Becoming Less Independent. Honda also is trying to better plant-to-plant communications in order to leverage its knowledge base. "In the past we tended to be a little too independent," says John Adams, senior vice president and general manager at HAM. "We now emphasize that we should try to understand what people are doing within Honda first, then determine how we can build upon that." This lead to the establishment of an electronic network that links all plants and serves as a real-time clearinghouse for new ideas, and a series of "Tech Fest" gatherings where new approaches are shared on a more formal basis. Both Adams and Shoupe acknowledge that driving these efforts are a combination of more sophisticated and demanding customers, and stronger competing products. Neither believes the initiatives are optional. "We're getting better as fast as we can," says Shoupe. "We have to."

The 2000-2005 Civic must be the low-water mark for Honda's designers. Clean but conservative, it missed the target in every iteration. The sporty Si model, which followed the basic stylistic theme found on the "long roof" Civic hatchbacks of the 1980s, failed to ignite much interest, while the four-door and Coupe almost put buyers to sleep. Street cred was lost, and Honda appeared to be losing ground. Then something happened.

In short order the Acura TSX (Honda's Accord in both Japan and Europe), North American Accord, and Acura TL hit the market. Each was crisp, clean, and much less conservative than expected. Even the Acura RL, which had stayed far too long with sheetmetal more attuned to the Disco '80s than the New Millennium, was given a shape that strays dangerously close to exciting. And, the next-generation Civic--based on the promise of the concept car--has far more authenticity and style than its predecessor. What happened inside Honda to bring about this stylistic change?