This is the third in a multi-part series based on talks given by Honda officials at the Columbus Rotary. In a rare sequence of two consecutive Monday meetings, the Rotarians invited Shige Yoshida, retired executive vice president and chief operating officer of Honda of America Manufacturing, and Tom Shoupe, the current executive vice president and chief operating officer of Honda of America Manufacturing. Honda officials also discussed a variety of topics with the Journal-Tribune following the meetings. Additional stories will appear in the paper next week.
–––
The first Honda executive in America says the next decade will be vital for the future of the mobility company.
Following a recent meeting of the Columbus Rotary, Shige Yoshida, retired Executive VP and Chief Operating Officer of Honda of America Manufacturing addressed the current and future state of the company.
“I personally feel that the coming next 10 years, it is a big challenge for them, the new technology, the innovation, the AI (artificial intelligence) techniques,” Yoshida said. “I don’t know what comes next.”
He stressed that competition in the market is getting “tougher and tougher.”
“Honda, in total, including Japan and every other part of the world, they are doing, I feel myself, they are doing a modest job,” Yoshida said.
Honda officials say they have been making strides to stay ahead of the curve in technology. In 2016 the company formed a Research and Development unit and established the Tokyo-based Honda R&D Innovation Lab to develop artificial intelligence software.
In June, Honda announced it was working on a range of electric vehicles under a new EV development division.
Company officials said that moving into the future, the Marysville Auto Plant has earned the right to make decisions about the future of the company. Yoshida said the Marysville plant now serves as Honda’s “mother plant.”
“Now it is getting bigger than the Honda operations in Japan so they are getting more autonomous. They are making their own decision,” Yoshida said, adding that Marysville associates are going around the world to help other plants.
Scott Whitlock, the first American Executive Vice President of the company, stressed that self-reliance was always the goal of Honda in America.
I don’t know you ever achieve it,” Whitlock said. “You always have some problems.”
Whitlock said that figuring out problems has always been a strength of Marysville associates.
“In Marysville, the dedication of the associates, they would recognize a problem, they wouldn’t have to be told to go solve it,” Whitlock said. “They would spend all weekend if it took it, working to get the problem resolved so production would be smooth on Monday.”
Yoshida said the process was not smooth because company officials were trying to merge the Honda philosophy with the American work force in a foreign culture half a world away.
“We were very young at that time,” Whitlock said. “We knew people’s capabilities has to grow and had to grow rapidly”
Yoshida added, “After we provided some kind of training, we had to rely on their regimen. We could not say, everyday, ‘Do this. Do that.’ They had to decide what is their priority.”
Yoshida said direction at the plant had to come from inside not from Japan.
Whitlock shared the example of a decision made in 1985. He said Marysville Auto Plant was in the process of constructing a welding shop and second production line for the Civic. Midway through the process, local officials decided to change the factory, specifically the weld shop, to produce Civics and Accords.
“They came up with a reasonably priced way to do it,” Whitlock said. “The line was still launched on time in March of 1986 with Accords … And of course, then we had capacity there and Accord sales just took off.”
He added, “I think that might be the beginning of flexible manufacturing in assembly plants in the United States. I think if you look at Honda production lines today, they can build almost every product on every line and they move products around from plant to plant.”
Whitlock called Yoshida’s leadership “a brilliant chapter” for Honda.
In 1987, Yoshida was asked to create and serve as executive vice president of Honda North America. Yoshida called Honda North America, “a kind of management company.” He said it was the first Honda company to headquarter in North America. Yoshida retired from Honda in 1992 after 30 years with the company.