Honda is planning to combine all of its automobile manufacturing facilities in the U.S. related to frame, engine, transmission and related engineering and purchasing operations into one new company, to be named Honda Development & Manufacturing of America LLC, effective April 1, 2021. The new company will also integrate the automobile product development operations of Honda R&D Americas LLC.
“Today, we are announcing a number of changes to our business operations that continue the journey we began last year, to become a more lean, nimble and unified company in North America,” said Shinji Aoyama, chief officer of North American Regional Operations of Honda Motor Co. Ltd., and president and CEO of American Honda.
Included in the consolidation are Honda Manufacturing of Alabama, Honda of America Mfg. Inc., Honda Manufacturing of Indiana, Honda Transmission Manufacturing of America, Honda Precision Parts of Georgia, Honda Engineering North America, Honda R&D Americas and Honda Accessory America.
This consolidation will effectively bring all auto development, planning, purchasing, strategy and manufacturing into one company, thus strengthening what Honda calls a “one-floor” approach to the product development process. By doing so, the company hopes to eliminate redundancies, increase the speed and accuracy of new product development and improve the manufacturing process to deliver vehicles that appeal to customers in a timely manner.
While the business operations are being streamlined, the company, at this time, has not announced any changes within the actual facilities.
Honda Manufacturing of Alabama, in Lincoln, is the company’s largest light truck production facility in the world and is the sole manufacturer of the Passport and Pilot SUVs, Odyssey minivan and Ridgeline pickup truck, as well as the V-6 engines that power them. In 2019, the Economic Development Partnership of Alabama and the Center for Business and Economic Research at the University of Alabama conducted a study that found Honda and its tier one suppliers accounted for more than 45,647 jobs and contributed more than $12 billion to the state.
The latest announced consolidation is just one of several ways Honda is reorganizing the company’s structure. In a separate move, American Honda plans streamline its auto sale and parts and service field operations to improve communications between dealers, zone management and national sales and parts and service management.
Earlier this year, company began restructuring its U.S. Powersports operations. In its latest announcement last week, Honda of South Carolina Mfg., responsible for powersports manufacturing in the U.S., will formally become part of the Powersports business unit within American Honda.
Honda currently operates 19 major manufacturing plants in North America, working with more than 740 suppliers in the region to produce its diverse range of products. In 2019, more than 90% of the Honda and Acura automobiles sold in the U.S. were produced in North America, using domestic and globally sourced parts. In addition, it operates 15 research and development centers in North America, which jointly design, develop and engineer many of the products the company makes in North America.
