Honda Motorcycle & Scooter
India Pvt. Ltd. (HMSI) inaugurated its fourth manufacturing plant at Vithalapur
(Mandal taluk, Ahmedabad district, Gujarat) in India. This green factory came
up in a record 13 months!
Spread over 250 acres, Honda’s
fourth plant operations are scheduled in two phases. The first production line
of 6 lakh units’ annual production will soon be followed by the 2nd Line of
additional 6 lakh units’ annual production in the middle of 2016. In total,
Honda will manufacture 1.2 million automatic scooters annually from its fourth
plant.
Directly, Honda’s fourth plant
will employ close to 3,000 Associates and entails a total investment of Rs
1,100 crore. Indirectly, 22 existing and new suppliers have followed Honda in
setting up their manufacturing facilities in Gujarat. In total, suppliers have
made an additional investment of Rs 1,100 crore and created 6,000 additional
employment opportunities at their plants. Honda and its suppliers have together
invested close to Rs 2,200 crore and generated nearly 9,000 new employment
opportunities in the State.
The new fourth plant will
increase HMSI’s total annual production capacity to 5.8 million units,
including 1.6 million units at first plant (Haryana), 1.2 million units at
second plant (Rajasthan), 1.8 million units at third plant (Karnataka) and
another 1.2 million units at the fourth plant (Gujarat).
The inauguration ceremony of
the plant was graced by chief guest Anandiben Patel, Chief Minister of Gujarat,
Noriake Abe (Operating Officer, Chief Operating Officer - Asia and Oceania
Regional Operations, Honda Motor Co., Ltd.), Shinji Aoyama (Operating Officer
and Director, Chief Operating Officer, Motorcycle Operations, Honda Motor Co.,
Ltd.), Toshiyuki Shimabara, (Operating Officer, Executive Incharge of
Motorcycle Production, Motorcycle operations, Honda Motor Co., Ltd), Keita
Muramatsu (President & CEO – Honda Motorcycle & Scooter India Pvt.
Ltd), Toshinobu Motai (Chief Production Officer, HMSI), V Sridhar (Senior Vice President &
Director – Corporate Office Production, HMSI), Anupam Mohindroo (Senior Vice
President & Director – Purchase Head office, HMSI) and Yadvinder Singh
Guleria (Senior Vice President – Sales & Marketing, HMSI).
Elaborating how Asia Oceania
region (which includes India) contributes 56pc to Honda’s global sales
(2Wheeler, automotive and power product) and how India leads the growth
momentum, Noriaki Abe, Operating Officer, Chief Operating Officer - Asia and
Oceania Regional Operations, Honda Motor Co., Ltd. said, “In case of 2wheelers,
ASEAN countries contribute 13.8 Million sales which is 80pc of Honda’s global
unit sales with the production facility in 9 countries. India is the fastest
growing economy in the world and is one of the most important and fast growing
markets for Honda. With this vision of growth, today we have achieved a new
milestone for our business in India. We are inaugurating our 4th factory in Gujarat.
This will make India to attain No. 1 position in all ASEAN countries.
“We would expect this growth
momentum to continue for Indian market as well as expect Indian operation to be
export hub for ASEAN countries. Our goal is not only to expand our operation,
but to contribute to the prosperity of society in India and Gujarat. This plant
would be a benchmark plant in India not only in terms of volume, but safety,
quality, morale and human aspect.”
Detailing on how it is a
matter of great pride that Gujarat is the home of state-of-the-art scooter only
manufacturing facility and Honda’s future expectations from India, Shinji
Aoyama, Operating Officer and Director, Chief Operating Officer, Motorcycle
Operations, Honda Motor Co., Ltd. said, “India plays a key role for Honda’s
2wheeler business. In 2015 Honda’s global sales of all products was 28 million
units out of which global 2wheeler sales stood at 17 million units. Today, 25pc
of the total Honda two-wheelers sold across the world come from India. We will
continue to invest in technology, for the Indian market. Through training and
cross market collaborations, we want to make India Honda’s technology hub as
well. Driven by the visionary growth-centric outlook of the Government, there
is an increased focus on investing in roads and infrastructure. These factors
imply that the best days for the scooter market in India, are yet to come!”
Keita Muramatsu – President
& CEO, Honda Motorcycle & Scooter India Pvt. Ltd. noted that the “Increasing
Scooterisation, a trend seen earlier in developed markets of the world, is the
key driver for Indian 2Wheeler industry today. Leading this change from the
front is Honda 2Wheelers - the undisputed market leader in this segment in
India with a market-share of 56pc and growing. Gujarat is an extremely
productive market for Honda. We have a market share of 62pc of the scooter
segment here. As we gear up to take up this challenge of meeting the customer
demand, Gujarat is an ideal home and a springboard to achieve greater heights.
Now, the Honda automatic scooter you ride will not only be “Made in India” but
also “Made in Gujarat.”
A PLANT OF MANY FIRSTS:
Honda’s fourth 2Wheeler plant
has many technology firsts. This is Honda’s first 2Wheeler plant worldwide
where the entire press shop will be fully automated and operated by robots
24-hours..
For the first time in its
Indian 2wheeler operations, Honda has introduced vacuum cooling technology and
nitrogen pressurisation in die-casting, use of digital eye technology in various
processes and traceability of in-house parts with QR codes in machine shop.
Honda has also introduced higher automation to reduce operator fatigue through
fully automated press shop, material handling robots for full frame in weld
shop and automatic transfer of front fork assembly in frame assembly.
Over 1/3rd of the total plant
area is a dedicated green zone. This is the first of Honda’s 2Wheeler plant to
introduce An Integrated Zero Liquid Discharge Facility closely aligned to
Honda’s 3R principle of – Reduce, Reuse and Recycle.
To co-exist and harmonise with
local society, the 4th factory infrastructure has been designed under Honda’s
concept of “Joy to the Next Generation”. Maximum natural lighting and
ventilation coupled with adoption of LED lights proactively reduces energy
consumption during production. Use of intelligent automations reduce fatigue
and stress levels of our associates. As a “Green Factory” concept, Honda’s
fourth plant has a planned internal rain harvesting system.
Source: Honda
Motorcycle & Scooter India Ltd