Honda invests to innovate more

Inaugurated this week in Honda's motorcycle plant in Zona Franca de Manaus, the Centre of development and technology (CDT), which integrates all areas of production unit in the company's effort for greater synergy, in the manufacturing process, will also be implemented in the plant of Japanese brand cars in Sao Paulo. With inauguration planned for November, the structure allocated in the Sumaré (SP) will facilitate the exchange of solutions that can be shared between the production processes of cars and motorcycles.
According to Paul Takeuchi, Senior Director of institutional relations of Honda in its subsidiary in South America, despite the "different realities", the manufacturing core of both units can generate good results from that alignment.
"A large number of processes, especially in manufactures, can be integrated between the production of motorcycles and cars. In aluminium smelter, for example, much of what is used in our motorcycles were brought from the model developed and applied in automobiles, "he explains.
In Sao Paulo, a building with characteristic similar to that implemented in the Amazon — 4.2 thousand square meters are willing to do the work of 200 professionals from different areas such as Research, Development Engineering, manufacturing & and Purchases — is under construction since the first half. When delivered, the unit that makes the Fit models, City and Civic will be integrated into the production One Floor concept adopted by matrix in Japan.
About $ 20 million was invested in the building and in the training of employees in Manaus. The manufacturer has yet to release the investment that takes place in the same project to Sao Paulo. In the initial stage of construction, the third industrial unit of the company, in Itirapina, also in São Paulo State, will start in 2015 already within the new organizational proposal.
"With this new horizontal concept is much easier for an engineer to execute an idea through direct contact with the area of manufacture and even with suppliers, for example. It is a process to have agility, to get the most out of our structure, "said Takeuchi.
For two or four wheels, Honda hopes to take advantage of the synergy of processes to overcome the difficulties in the market. In motorcycles, sales plummeted more than 10 percent em2013.In cars, despite the current market stability, the trend is for a scenario of crisis next year.
"We do what is within our range. If we can make decisions faster, we must take advantage of that. We seek to increase solutions agility and always demand for our products to be increasingly competitive, "concludes Paul Takeuchi.
In Manaus, Honda has its largest factory of motorcycles in the world. Of Sumaré, the manufacturer has added a million vehicles on the streets of the country. Today the company approaches the mark of 20 million units manufactured in the country since 1971.