“英雄”，品牌名稱，象征著穆賈爾兄弟的雄心壯志，誕生于1956年。在20世紀40年代的早期，一個謙虛的生產自行車零件的公司生產出了世界上最大的自行車和今天兩輪自行車制造商的部件（英雄本田汽車有限公司在1984年開始在英雄集團和本田汽車間作為代表），奧德賽是一個視覺刺激—與每一個人建立持久的關系，包括員工、經銷商和供應商。多年來，這一理念得到了豐厚的回報。英雄一名是印度兩輪車的代名詞，是今天一個多單位、多產品、地域多元化的公司集團。通過充分的整合運營，集團生產鋼鐵作為關鍵部件如自行車的自由輪，并且有遠見，和無數的企業合作，如產品設計、IT服務、金融和保險，只是僅舉幾例。像每一個成功的故事，英雄傳奇包含著企業的一個精神元素，成就都是通過勇氣和決心再加上視覺和細致的規劃達成的。在其成功的路上，英雄團體及其成員表現出堅定不移的激情，并且對自己設置了更高的標準要求，為顧客提供更好的服務。“工程滿意度”是英雄的主要動機，這已經成為了生活的一種方式，也成為了團體工作文化中的一部分。這就是驅動集團尋求新的前景，采取更快的技術和制造質量驅動的產品已達到客戶、合作伙伴、經銷商和供應商的最大的滿意度。從現在開始，我們將關注著英雄本田汽車有限公司每當我們陳述“Hero Honda”和“HHML”和整體性的英雄團體當我們簡單地陳述為“Hero”。

 

"Hero", the brand name symbolizing the steely ambition of the Munjal brothers, came into being in the year 1956. From a modest manufacturer of bicycle components in the early 1940's to the world's largest bicycle & two-wheeler manufacturer today (Hero Honda Motors Ltd. was started in the year 1984 as a JV between Hero Group & Honda Motors, Japan), the odyssey was fuelled by one vision - to build long-lasting relationships with everyone, including workers, dealers and vendors. This philosophy has paid rich dividends through the years. Hero, a name synonymous with two-wheelers in India is today a multi-unit, multi-product, geographically diversified Group of companies. Through fully integrated operations, group roll its own steel, make critical components such as free wheels for their bicycles, and have the foresight to simultaneously diversify into myriad ventures, like product designing, IT enabled services, finance and insurance, just to name a few. Like every success story, Hero's saga contains an element of spirit and enterprise; of achievement through grit and determination, coupled with vision and meticulous planning. Throughout its success trail, the Hero Group and its members have displayed unwavering passion of setting higher standards for themselves and delivering simply the best to their customers. "Engineering Satisfaction" is the prime motive of the Hero Group and it has become a way of life and a part of the work culture of the Group. This is what drives the Group to seek newer vistas, adopt faster technology and create quality driven products to the utmost satisfaction of customers, partners, dealers and vendors. From now on, we would mean Hero Honda Motors Ltd. whenever we state either “Hero Honda” or “HHML” and the Hero Group in totality when we state simply “Hero”.#p#分頁標題#e#

ARTICLES

1) 本田考慮修改供應鏈避免供應商破產——Honda considering modifying supply chain to avoid supplier bankruptcies

Honda say that they are considering modifying their “just in time” supply chain methods in order to avoid any production delays that might be caused by supplier bankruptcies. Concern across the auto industry that General Motors or Chrysler might not succeed in their restructuring plans has led to fear that many suppliers might be crippled or bankrupted as a result.

Toyota and Honda produce many vehicles in North America using the same suppliers as GM and Chrysler – as well as Ford, Mercedes-Benz, BMW and Hyundai, among others.

“We continue contingency planning even after the bailout,” Mike Goss, a spokesman for Toyota’s North American manufacturing unit in Erlanger, Kentucky, told the Detroit News.

“We hope the loans provided to Detroit will also help to stabilize suppliers, but the very slow market remains a concern for all.”

Japanese automakers have previously expressed their concerns that a failure at GM or Chrysler could cripple the industry as a whole. Toyota and Honda say that they are looking at working with suppliers to increase parts-on-hand inventories so that they can be well-prepared. This goes against the practice that swept the industry 20 or 30 years ago of keeping only the necessary parts on hand to complete vehicles in order to reduce storage costs and excess parts production.

2) 本田采取策略&與供應商的關系——HONDA PURCHASING STRATEGY & RELATIONSHIP WITH SUPPLIERS

Traditionally, the standard metrics used by Japanese automakers in choosing suppliers are quality, cost, delivery and technology. In the case of Honda, three other factors drive the automaker’spurchasing strategy.

First, the automaker depends on suppliers for slightly more than 80% of components in its cars. Thismeans that the in-house manufactured ratio is slightly under 20% and consists mainly of engines and transmissions plus bulky, capital intensive components such as body stampings and large plastic mouldings, primarily instrument panels and bumpers.

Second, Honda procures components from an estimated 400 tier one suppliers in Japan. Globally, the automaker’s supplier total approaches 1,000 including more than 600 in North
America. There are two reasons for the comparatively large number of North American suppliers:

 Honda produces full-size pickup trucks and SUVs at Honda of Canada Manufacturing and Honda Manufacturing of Alabama. It has no model in this segment in Japan. Thus, since the Ridgeline, Pilot, MDX and North American Odyssey were all substantially developed by Honda Engineering North America, there is an unspecified number of non-traditional suppliers such as BorgWarner Automotive, which until recently delivered the 4-wheel-drive system for the MDX, though it still supplies the Pilot system.#p#分頁標題#e#

The distance between Honda’s main assembly plants in North America is sufficiently long - 650 km between Marysville, OH, and Lincoln, AL, and another 400 km from Marysville to Alliston, ON - to make logistics a critical cost issue for suppliers wishing to serve all six Honda plants from a single location. Prior to the 2001 opening of Honda’s Alabama plant, 60% of the automaker’s suppliers were situated within a 450-km radius of Marysville and nearby East Liberty, OH, where Honda has been building cars for nearly 20 years. Many of those same suppliers now produce components for Honda’s three-month-old plant in Greensburg, IN.

Three of four Honda vehicles sold today are so-called ‘global’ models. These include the Civic,

Accord, CR-V and Fit. Note that Honda produces the Civic at 15 plants in 14 countries and the Accord at seven plants in seven countries. Where possible, the automaker prefers to use global suppliers for ‘global’ cars.

Note also that these four ‘global’ models constitute four global platforms on which Honda has

engineered a series of derivatives. Examples are :

Supplying Honda

SupplierBusiness Ltd 2009 21

 The North American Civic, built at the automaker’s Alliston, East Liberty and Greensburg plants, is a four-door model

 The European Civic, assembled at Honda of the UK Manufacturing in Swindon, has three doors and is equipped with both gasoline and diesel engines. In the case of the North American model: gasoline and CNG. Honda estimates that differentiation between the two cars is 20%.

In addition to the four global platforms, Honda has several regional or market-specific platforms including the North American ‘light truck’ platform from which the Ridgeline, Pilot, MDX and Odyssey were derived and two 660cc minivehicle platforms in Japan. The automaker is currently developing an all-new platform below the Fit for emerging markets in Asia. Planned launch date is 2010.

In the case of these regional or market-specific platforms, the supplier base includes a greater percentage of nonglobal suppliers. An example in Japan: Yanagawa Seiki, which makes manual transmissions for Honda’s 660cc minivehicle line-up.

Unfortunately, many of the automaker’s domestic suppliers do not have operations outside Japan.This is partly because Honda is a relative latecomer to auto production. It then took the lead when it set up a manufacturing base in North America, for years the industry’s most lucrative market, with its Marysville auto plant in 1982.

As a result, Honda’s largest group suppliers in Japan - TS Tech Co., Ltd. (seats and headrests), Keihin Corp. (fuel injection systems and ECUs) and Showa Corp. (steering systems and shock absorbers) - are dwarfed by Toyota’s Big Three: Denso Corp., Aisin Seiki Co., Ltd. and JTEKT Corp.#p#分頁標題#e#

In fiscal 2007, TS Tech reported sales of US$5.4 billion (￥479.2 billion) while Keihin and Showa registered US$3.8 billion (￥339.3 billion) and US$2.7 billion (￥283.4 billion) respectively. This compares to US$45 billion (￥4 trillion), US$30.2 billion (￥2.7 trillion) and US$12.9 billion (￥1.2 trillion) for Toyota’s Big Three. Moreover, earnings margins of Honda suppliers have tended to be smaller in recent years although that could change when fiscal 2008 financial results are announced in April.

Honda defines group suppliers as ‘affiliated’ companies in which it holds a larger than 20% equity stake or which depend on the automaker for 70% or more of their sales; or conversely: which Honda turns to for more than 70% of purchases of a particular system or component.

Thus Denso Corp., Toyota’s leading group or keiretsu supplier, is also a Honda group supplier as it manufactures an estimated 95% share of the automaker’s heater requirements in Japan and 60% of air-conditioners. Denso is also the principal supplier of several sensors (oxygen, for instance), alternators and igniters for ignition systems. In fact, Honda is Denso’s second largest customer with a 7% share of consolidated sales.

Other suppliers in this category include Nippon Seiki Co., Ltd., instrument clusters; Stanley Electric Co., Ltd., lighting; Mitsuba Corp., front and rear wipers and power window motors; and Sumitomo Wiring Systems, Ltd., wire harnesses for both standard cars and hybrids. These four suppliers hold dominant shares in several component categories in the Japanese market at least and, in the case of Stanley, Nippon Seiki and Mitsuba, for motorcycles as well.

Of the major independents, NOK Corp. qualifies as a ‘group supplier’ for oil seals as do Nichirin Co., Ltd. for power steering and other hoses and Bando Chemical Industries Ltd. for transmission belts.

Supplying Honda

SupplierBusiness Ltd 2009 22

Included in the suppliers in which Honda holds a greater than 20% equity stake are Keihin, Showa, TS Tech, Nissin Kogyo Co., Ltd. (braking systems), Musashi Seimitsu Co., Ltd. (gears and camshafts), FCC Co., Ltd. (clutches), F-Tech Inc. (chassis and suspension parts), and Nihon Plast Co., Ltd. (trim and airbags).

There seems to be no set rule on whether Honda doubles or triples sources or what even constitutes double or triple sourcing. For most components, Honda relies on multiple suppliers. But on a model base, it tends to single source.

Examples are : in the case of high-voltage cables for hybrid cars, Honda has two main suppliers:

Sumitomo Wiring and Yazaki Corp. But they divide the contract by model with Sumitomo supplying the Civic Hybrid and Yazaki the Accord Hybrid. No word yet on the new Insight.

Similarly, the automaker has three navigation system suppliers: Mitsubishi Electric Corp., Pioneer Corp. and Alpine Electronics Inc. Mitsubishi supplies the Civic, Accord and Airwave while Pioneer was awarded the contract for the Odyssey (Japanese version), Elysion and Edix and Alpine the Legend.#p#分頁標題#e#

And while Stanley Electric supplies the great majority of headlamps to the automaker, Koito Industries Ltd. is responsible for passenger vans including the Step Wagon, Odyssey, Air Wave and Stream.

Honda’s core suppliers have largely followed the OEM into North America and Asia. TS Tech, for instance, has set up operations in ten countries to deliver seating and trim products to Honda plants.

In the US, TS Tech has plants in Ohio, Indiana and Alabama. Keihin, Honda’s main group supplier of car electronics, has set up 16 plants outside Japan including four in the US, while Stanley Electric has lighting plants in London, OH, and Battle Creek, MI. The supplier, which supplies an estimated 80% of Honda’s head lamp requirements in Japan and more than half of the automaker’s rear-combination lamp needs, is believed to have a much smaller share in the US.

In general, there is a feeling (though not supported by industry data) that Honda depends more on non-Japanese suppliers at its overseas plant. Example: Honda of Canada Manufacturing turned to Visteon Corp. for the Acura MDX’s instrument panel module last year. In Japan, Visteon has no tier one business with Honda for this component.

Meanwhile, the automaker continues to make steady progress in expanding local content at plants outside Japan. Honda has six vehicle and three dedicated powertrain plants in North America, one vehicle plant in South America, two in Europe, and 11 in Asia including three in China. And with the 2007 start of automatic transmission production at a new plant in Foshan, China, the automaker now has five powertrain plants in Asia.

In North America, local content for the Civic and Accord stands at 81%. The Odyssey and CR-V are slightly under 80% while the UK-built CR-V and Civic are below 65% due to the fact that Honda still imports transmissions from Japan. However, the automaker produces engines, both diesel and gasoline, in Swindon.

Elsewhere, local content of Civics and Fits assembled in Brazil stands at 60% while the Turkish-built Civic is under 40%. In India, the newly launched City stands at nearly 80% while the lower-volume Accord is below 35%.

3) 印度加入本田全球的供應鏈——India to join Honda's global supply chain

Honda Motors' upcoming plant in Rajasthan will be an export base for certain key engine components, and not a manufacturing hub like some other auto-makers such as Hyundai, Suzuki and Renault have planned. The company has similar bases in other ASEAN countries.

Honda Siel Cars India (HSCI), a subsidiary company of Honda Motor Corporation (HMC), Japan, will become the sourcing base for critical engine components to other Asian markets. HMC is the second most profit-making car company in the world, behind Toyota.

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HSCI is currently working on its new Rs 1,000-crore car making facility on 600 acres at Tapukara Industrial Area in Rajasthan, which after completion in 2009 will produce 60,000 cars annually in the initial phase.

Masahiro Takedagawa, president and CEO, HSCI, said, "Our plan is to integrate HSCI into Honda's pan-Asia supply chain network with our new plant becoming the export base for certain key engine components including crankshafts. These exports will happen to ASEAN countries, which also make other parts."

The company is aiming to derive full benefit from the free trade agreement (FTA) signed between India and Thailand, which in turn has similar agreements with the rest of the countries in the region including Philippines, Singapore, Vietnam, Malaysia and Indonesia among few others.

According to the FTA, special duty benefits are given on about 8-10 engine components traded between the two countries. The list, according to auto manufacturers, may get widened, when the governments take a final decision on this.

"We will stand to benefit from the FTA directly as our subsidiaries in different countries can start with integration. We can then start with production of engine components from our Rajasthan unit," said Takedagawa.

Honda, Japan, has already put in place similar component manufacturing facilities across Asian countries including Malaysia, where it produces car bumpers, Philippines, where it produces automatic transmission units, Indonesia, where it produces manual transmission units, and Thailand, where it manufactures engine components.

India will join this league of nations as and when the company's new facility gets operational and ready for exports.

This strategy of Honda is aimed at reducing its dependence on a single nation for generation of sales and also nullify, if any, a cyclical downturn in any of the emerging or developed auto markets. The US (world's largest auto market) and certain markets in the Europe are currently facing a slump in demand, which is heavily influenced by the global economic turmoil.

HSCI is thus keen on reducing its supplier base, which it has developed over the past 11 years of its existence in the country. "We need to be (more) flexible and agile, minimise our supply chain, reduce the cost and expenditure. We need to control our stock more closely," said Takedagawa.

The company has allotted 150 acres to its ancilliary vendors for the manufacture of eight critical and bulky vehicle parts. The company believes that the proximity of the vendors to the car plant, coupled with the use of updated techniques, will make overall process of car production more efficient

4) 本田明示授權洋供應鏈計劃軟件——Honda Express Licenses SynQuest Supply Chain Planning Software.#p#分頁標題#e#

While Optimizing Service

SynQuest, Inc. (Nasdaq:SYNQ) and Honda Express, Co., today announced that One World Logistics of America, a logistics subsidiary of Honda Express Co., LTD, has licensed SynQuest supply chain planning solutions to reduce inbound logistics costs associated with the delivery of materials to assembly operations and outbound logistics costs associated with finished vehicle scheduling. SynQuest was selected based upon the results of a pilot of the software conducted earlier this year that exceeded One World Logistics of America's expectations.

"SynQuest has shown us a new way to optimize?our customer's logistics network for the lowest total delivered cost," said Yoshi Ohara, senior managing director at Honda Express and president at One World Logistics of America. "For the first time, we can quickly and completely model complex inbound networks, which includes balancing transportation, inventory, plants, suppliers and returnable containers costs, while respecting thewe encounter in the real world of global logistics. The comprehensiveness of the model, combined with SynQuest software's profit-and-loss driven optimization?technology, has shown us savings that we believed were not achievable in the past. Honda Express and its subsidiaries intend to support its customer worldwide with this dynamic suite of logistic solutions."

One World Logistics of America will initially use SynQuest inbound logistics planning software to evaluate its customer's inbound distribution networks to determine delivery routes and frequency of deliveries. With the SynQuest software, One World Logistics of America can quickly deliver logistics plans for every inbound part at the lowest total delivered cost. The software considers the constraints of the automobile assembly plants and determines how to combine supplier deliveries via various transportation schemes to significantly reduce the number of trips and total miles required to deliver materials to automobile assembly plants.

"SynQuest's supply chain planning solutions and automotive domain expertise allow us to provide significant value to our customer," said Albert Wittkopp, vice president at One World Logistics of America. "There is great complexity in a multi-divisional automotive assembly operation. During our pilot study of inbound logistics, SynQuest, in just eight weeks, was able to show us better results than we could have accomplished in 40 weeks on our own. We can now quickly react to the automotive assembly environment's rapidly changing requirements. Similarly, with SynQuest's finished vehicle scheduling solution, we now have the capability to determine the most rapid, cost-effective?plan for movement of finished vehicles from our customer's assembly plants to its dealers."

"Selection by Honda Express and its affiliate affirms the kind of value that we can deliver to automotive companies," said president of SynQuest. "Honda Express is at the forefront of understanding how supply chain planning applications can reduce logistics costs from product design through vehicle delivery. Our solutions give the company the ability to deliver superior results to its customer by providing a plan for every part and delivering those parts for the lowest total cost. The speed at which Honda Express can now produce new logistics plans ensures that it can react to the constantly changing demands of the automotive market."#p#分頁標題#e#

About SynQuest

SynQuest, Inc. specializes in providing supply chain planning software to maximize profit and optimize service for companies with complex logistics networks. SynQuest software uses financially focused technology to solve specific supply chain problems for target markets including automotive, consumer durable and industrial manufacturers. The company's supply chain planning solutions feature rapid implementation for a fast, compelling return on investment. For more information, call 1-800-844-3228 or visit www.synquest.com.

About One World Logistics

One World Logistics of America, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary