Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/126073
wh at pays fo r the people , th e h ours, the muffled air tools , the stainless steel benches. the spotless cl ean floo rs , the ai r co nd it ioning . Begin to see the chick en-and -egg re lationshi p no w ? The - productivity cou ld n 't exi st wit h ou t t he investment in the work p lace; the money fo r t he investment wo u ld n ' t exist wi t hou t the p ro ductivity. N o r is t hat the w hole Story. The people . in the workplace a re committed , in vo lved . Th~y m eet regularly as a tea m to Iron o ut p roblems, b r a ins to rm, and flo at suggestions . H onda M otor h a s a h ighly active suggestion system that generatestens o f thousands of in n ov a tions annually. directly invol ving the men on the factory floor . . _Yes . ' this is wh ere Honda really outdoes Det roit. The Super Cub is their Model T - they've-been building it si nce 1958 and are anticipating the rollout o f the 20 m illionth one. I guess the Road Pal is their 'M od el A - allenclosed geardrive integrated as a unit with the e ng in e , a nd functioning ' as one side of the swingarm . W indup recoil starting , automatic clutch .. it's a true appliance aimed smack at the worldwid e fa m ily market. They o u ild Road Pal power units on a st ep-motion line . each unit rides on a little steel p allet that steps along. a station at a ti me , eve ry ei g h t se conds . There-are about forty men o n this lin e , ~ taking in tra ys of p arts all along the line and s pi tt i n~ o u t assembled . powerheads a t the end , where a fullyautomatic conveyor/lift shunts them d ownst ai rs for bank storageltransfer to awa it m arri age .to motorcycl es o n another line . Pi cture ea c h assembly line or subassembly line as the small end of a funnel (t h e li nes themselves take up surprisingly little floorspace). Then rea lize that the rest of this huge complex is devoted to keeping these lines fed with parts . There's one machine bay wh ere, standing on t he mezzanine , yo u can take in over 1,000 m etal -cutting machines in the swe ep of an eye. All are devoted to machining p iece-parts , threading . assembling groups of studs. In ot he r bay are over a dozen injection-molders "to make pl astic parts. These are all fairly standard job-shop operations. What is unusual. (in the motorcycle business at least) is the scale. Less standard are t he integrated " t r a nsfe r lin es" th ey've set - ~p to d o four -cylind er engi ne p arts - bl ocks, head s, cr a n ks . What's a transfe r line? It 's a m achin e so me fift y to a hundred fee t long. which gra bs a semi-fi n ished casti ng in m e tal fingers at o ne e nd and (for insta nce) spits o u t a finished cy linder head a t ,t he other after ha vin g done a mul tit u d e of m eta l-cu t t in g , grinding. and assembly o pera tio ns on it. step b y step , a uto m a tically transferring the p a rt past each workhead , locking it in place , cy cling the work head and transferring agai n . T he y're co mmon in Detro it. At H ond a t h ey are d es ign ed , b uilt a nd delivered by H ond a Eng in eerin g C o . - another auto no mo us su bs id iary firm which supplies H o nda Motor with custom e ng in ee red mach inery the way Hond a R&D su p p lies wo r king draw in gs a nd p ro duct technol ogy . . The ca psto ne of this kind of m achi nery h a s got to be their cra n k line (one j ou rn alist reinarked , " Neve r have I seen so m a n y cr a n ks ha fts be in g . ' m ade by so few people . " ) T h ree m en cont ro l the m a chine while it ' turns o u t 4 50 fin ish ed cra n ks p er sh ift , 900 per tw o -shift day . Tha t's a quarter of a m ill io n cra nks pe r yea r - more , if 'th ey want to pus h . T he m a chine ca n , wit h a lit tle down ti me for resett ing. ru n a ny fo u r -cy lin der cra n k in H ond a 's line . car or m ot orcyc le . It ma c h in es: dri lls. fi nish -g rinds . polishes , se lf- in spects a n d b al ances each c ran k untouched b y h um an hands. At each in spection sta t io n it can se lf-reject a faulty part a n d signa l t he e rror to its controllers . W e watched gia nt p resses b lan king . a nd forming sheet m e tal p a rts fo r b oth ca rs a nd b ikes; saw ' car bodies being ' a uto rnaticallv wel ded in o ne-s hot fix tures; saw stamped st eel bi ke fra m es b eing done t he sa me way. There we re 400F engi n es o n t he subassembly line as we went b y (t hey switch between prod ucts, runni ng t hem in job lo ts) w hi le CB750s were co ming off final assem b ly . • Nearby, a close rel ative-o f t he 400 F e ngine wit h a u ni t gea rbox / drive was b eing assem b led into a light-duty m ini- p ickup on a n other powered co nveyo r lin e . This p la n t suppor ts a fa ntast ic di versi ty of produc ts. two, three . and four wheel ed , sh u ffli ng a nd mixin g ca r/ b ike p arts at will . Ii' s crazy. It 's al so a monumental work of co llect ive genius . The o bjec t of this plant complex is dual - to integ ra te p roduct ion com p letely, eit her fr eeing H onda from vendor/suppliers o r bringing the vendors r ight into the p roduction st ream; and to c rea te a product lin e that can be built in an in finit e variety of co nfigu ra ti o ns as fa st as the m arket ca n c ha nge. It 's a tall order so met hi n g yo u he ar A merican in d us tr ia lists talk wishfu lly abo ut. H ond a is doing it. . W e 've spe nt j ust o ve r a n h our o n the m a rch , cons ta ntly moving , a nd we've o n ly scra tched the su rface of wha t's h e re . N o w the sun is low , shifts are changi ng to t he tu ne of m ell o w chimes a n d piped-in music . Off-shift wo rkers . a re kicking u p d us t o n t he soccer fiel d a cross from the, fro nt office entrance. One impressive thing a bou t t he Suzuka wo r ks is the small a mount of " fro n t office" space - which in turn bespeaks a lack of the kin d o f ceremoniously-installed ' m ana geme n t ' d ea d hea d s wh ose custom -b ui lt offices adorn (?) m an y a n Ame r ic an fa c tory . There also seems to be su r p risi ngly sm a ll sp a ce d evot ed to production co nt ro l, acco u nt ing , and ot her p a pershu ffl ing . These functi ons hav e to be performed , but a t Suzuka they s,?em to be p erfo rmed cl oser to the workplace. in .• much more of a sh irtsleeve atmosphere . , Much has been said in the Ameri can business press about the workin gs o f Japanese in d ustry, I attempting to exp lai n the economic mi racle to h arassed, frustrated m id dl e m anagers. Miracle ? Ma yb e . but. if so, the n t he Model T was 'another mira cle . I prefe r to call it unfetter ed ge n iu s wo r king in a tight-k n it soc ie ty. T hey say we had su c h a society once, but I can't prove it. And H e n ry Ford's no t arou nd to ask . If I bel ieved in rei n ca rn a t io n , I' d say he's been re bo rn J apa n ese . • Wednesday: Explanations & inchiki. T hings begin to win d down in pa ce as ou r tired crew spends most of the m orn in g gett ing bac k to Tokyo via the ' su pe rfast (120-130 mph ) b ullet train, On the way, we run t hrough J ap an 's major refinery district, It 's as if th ey 've cra m med every o il refinery they 'll eve r n eed in to the area o f a sm all town. Emissions from this mass of equ ip men t must be severely co ntrolled, co mpared to 'American refin eries ; at least o n t his sunny da y, th e air's not that h orribl e, cloying brown. (May be n o inversion layer?) T heir burnoff t ow er s are hu ge, massivel y -supported stacks th at seem to have m ounds of fu me-scrubbing : equip ment a t their bases. Never qui te se en any thing li ke th em , Back fu rther north, Fuji-s an is still enshrouded - this tim e in a yellow-grey ind ust rial haze. The vie w is somber and so beri ng : a fore ground ho rizon of ch emi cal crac kin g towers, sm okestacks and flues; then the footh ill co mmu nities diml y seen through a California-li ke at mospheric filter: fin all y th e m ountain its elf, b ro oding over it all, an in cr edib le large , almost ou t-o f-sca le shape bulking of the gloomy sky . Those o ut beautifu lly cle ar. . c olorful photos an d p rin ts o f th is classically p erfect' mount ain de pict somethin g as rare in J ap an as a view of Catalin a fro m Inspiration Point here at home. will have t o ad d extra pages. [ advise you to buy yo ur own p rint ing p lant." He avy, Almost t he cli max, but n o t qu ite . Th at eve ning, we were again · gues ts at dinner - t his ti me with Ame rican Ho nda Preside n t Kihachiro Kawashima (no relation to th e "oth er" Mr. Kawashima), originator of the phrase, "You meet the nicest people . . . " , and fin ally with Soich iro Ho n da hi mself. Ho n da -nan, t hey ca lled him (in st ead of Honda-san . as we . in our ignorance, ~ 1.0 ...-I l-< (lJ .0 a (lJ > o Z Foreground. a Honda-built transfer line creates stacks of finished cylinder heads , T o ky o at noontime is u n der sunny skies ; the t yphoon is but a trail of lin gerin g cloud, The bi kes are out , now - bu t what is shoc kin g and sobering again is the fact th at they are as lost in a sea of cars, trucks an d bu ses as t h ey would be in an ' American city. . Affl uence h as struc k wi th a vengean ce ; everyone who can afford a car has one; an d there 's no way th e st reets can' handle the crush. T o kyo's in famou s . kamikaze taxis can' t even get tip enough runnin g room to su pp ort th eir ' reputation. The on ly thing that's moving is the rail tran sit system an d the b ikes - all t o o fe w of them , _ With lin gering im pressio ns of what we've seen, we go to spen d the afte rno o n in an intense de-brie fin g, th ro ug h in terp re ters, as we an d o ur h ost s b egin to get a t the meat o f wh y we 'r e here . They need to make su re we u nderstan d wh at we've been shown a t Hon da; while in tum w e attempt ' to answer their questions on chara cteristics o f. the ' Am erican en thu siast market, Compressin g a lifetime o f cu lt ura l > self-awareness into th e . co n fin es o f a busi ness me etin g is a ' formidab le , exacti ng, sometimes fru stra tin g t ask fo r us, as it must be eve n m ore so for our interp reters, men who have brought years of ex perience in both cu ltu res to ' this job. We all agree that it is at be st a begi nning, that at th e very lea st we've go tte n to know each o ther, have built a found ation fo r m o re · meetings, mo re exchanges o f m uch -need ed information. Ii 's app arent that th is tour, as mu ch as it must have c ost Honda Mo t o r, is but one part of a mas sive gr oping effort to re capture the mainst ream o f a shiftin g, changin g market. What we've ha d to say will be me rged with a gre at ga th ering of data from other sources an d di gested fo r ho w lo ng? · :'lr. Kurn e, project m an ager fo r Honda R &D, perhaps gave us our sharpest foretaste of th e ' fut u re . du ring h is ope ning remar ks: HI have no in ten tio n a-t this place and tim e of explan ation o r ex cuses"The best resp on se is to create an d deliver the bi kes as soon ,as po ssible. Noise and e missions are n ot exciti ng a t all ... . pe rhaps m y most fruit ful and excitin g m om ent was warmin g up the 25 0 GP engines be fo re a race, te stin g each ex ha us t pipe wi t h a wet fin ger to see t hat all cy lind ers wer e firin g correc tly, . , 1 can n ot th ink of a m ot orcy cle en thusiast wh o docs n o t d ream .of h an dli~g racing m achin ery th e ultima te .. . And fina lly , "All jokes aside , very soon, (there will be ) new gro u p o f models for the U.S . At th at time it 's mv "hope to meet with y o u direc tly ior 'explanation " If that materializes, you might h ave expected); it's a t it le of respe ct t hat I'm told is reserved fo r the old and wise. Ironically , this day was " Respect for t he Age d Day," a national h olid ay in J apan , Yes , Honda is fo rmally retired , and, his eyes sparkling with th e hilarity of the gest ure , t old us th rou gh an in terpre te r of how h e has chosen for h imself the title of " Supreme Advisor ." He truly m ean s it - he has tu rned th e co mpany over to the next generat io n, and he in tends to m ake them run it without dependenc e on him , He has his catt le ra nch , from which co mes Hon da beef jerky (present in qua ntit ies wh erever we satisfying st o pped for a b ite all week) , an d was her e express ly to party and have a good tim e demonstratin g to u s t he ins and outs of " inc hiki" , (What's in chiki? It took a lengthy telling, punctuated by mu ch merriment, . to explain, in chiki as a kind or st yle of tri ck or de ception in wh ich the audience kn ows that it is a deception an d goes right alo ng. "Sort o f like what h appened with Rich ard Nix on ?" queried one of us. " Exactly! " and th e whole room ro ared. ) T his man has d on e it all. He 's go t to be the Hen ry Fo rd of his cu ltu re and his No, it 's not 19 15, and ti me . mass-produc tion is not a ne w inven tio n anymore . But the p roducts, t he in dustrial pl an t , th e wo rkforce th is genius h as co n ceive d testify th a t Ho n da had taken Ford 's p rincip les and exten ded them deep into 20th-eentury reality. And now, the supreme irony he chooses to be a goo d 0\' boy, kn ock ba ck J ap anese , Scotch (which is excellent) and deftly tea ch us the ancient art . o fnow -you-see-it, now-you-don't. I'm liom e now. We left Tokyo at 9 :0 0 p .m . T hursday evening and ar rived in Lo s An geles a t 2 :30 T hursday af tern o on, af ter having wat ch ed a movie all "nigh t " an d slept all " day " . Is there .anv w on der t hat I feel a sense of unrea lity abo ut it all? Or t hat I may wo nder , " Did I sec t he real J apan , ' or did I not? " I saw several J apans , maybe , Which one was real ? Th e m ost certain thing I know, th e dom inant feelin g o ut of a kaleidoscope of im pressions , is th at I saw o n e of your a lte rnate futu res. Ame rica, T he worst and th e best o f it , entire Industrial ~ Rev olution th e compresse d into o ne genetatio n on a t iny islan d n at ion brimmi ng with people. An d Ho nda? Did I see th e "real" Ho nda? Did any o f the nine ? Who can say, looking back, that Soichiro Ho n da and his ba nd of m erry men have not wo rked the m ost marv elou s in ch iki up on us all? • 19