Honda’s commitment to its customer runs much deeper than just the products it builds. With a focus on the environment and the communities in which it operates, Honda talks about of being a company society wants to exist. For Honda, building quality communities is just as important as building quality products.
Blue Skies for Our Children
When Honda came to North America more than 35 years ago, it realized the importance of minimizing the environmental impact its products and operations have on society. Although this was a major challenge, Honda viewed it as the company’s responsibility to ensure "blue skies for our children."
With that underlying theme, Honda has been an industry leader in environmentally friendly products and manufacturing operations. From the latest hybrid and fuel-cell product, to the newest diesel technology, Honda remains committed to being an industry leader in products that exceed emission ratings.
"When it comes to the environment, Honda has always been a leader in providing direction to the industry. But ‘leadership’ is not our goal … blue skies for our children remains our rallying cry," said Koichi Kondo, president of American Honda Motor Co., Inc., and chief operating officer of Honda’s North America Region operations. "To achieve it, we will continue to advance our technologies for the benefit of today’s customers and future generations."
However, the focus does not begin or end with the products themselves.
When it comes to manufacturing, Honda’s goal is to ensure that its facilities are operating as efficiently as possible.
"We will make a significant commitment to limit the environmental impact of this new plant. Our goal is to make this what we call a zero waste to landfill factory," said Akio Hamada, president of Honda of America Mfg. and head of Honda’s manufacturing operations in the North America Region. "Further, every major Honda plant in the world has achieved ISO 14001 certification – an international environmental standard for manufacturing. This includes our plants in North America.
"But our commitment to the environment is not based just on regulations or testing standards. Our goal is that this plant in Indiana will have the smallest environmental footprint of any Honda auto plant in North America."
In 1998, Honda took its global vision of being an environmentally friendly company a step further when it launched its Green Factory Initiative. This brought even more attention to the role the manufacturing operations played in maximizing the efficient use of resources.
Honda has made several advances in North America in this area, including:
• Honda Manufacturing of Alabama becoming the first auto assembly plant in the United States to achieve the goal of zero waste to landfill;
• The East Liberty Auto Plant in Ohio replaced the less energy-efficient steam as a primary energy resource with more efficient use of electricity and natural gas;
• Replacing older hydraulic and pneumatic welding robots with electric robots;
• Recycling paint sludge overspray into additive for cement, recycling scrap painted bumpers into splash guards, and the recycling and casting of scrap steel into powertrain components; and
• Using waterborne primer in paint to reduce the volatile organic compounds released during the paint process. All of this, along with the use of extremely low VOC-powder coating lines for all-terrain and motorcycle frames introduced at the Timmonsville, S.C. plant and the Marysville Motorcycle Plant in Ohio.
Commitment to the Community
Honda also has many programs at each of its facilities in North America designed to support and grow the communities in which its associates live and work. Many of Honda’s philanthropic efforts focus on growing minds and communities.
In the area of education, American Honda supports Historically Black Colleges and Universities through scholarships awarded during the annual Honda Battle of the Bands and the All-Star Campus Challenge.
In Ohio, Honda is taking its way of doing business and applying it to the classroom. The company is taking its Total Quality Management tools and teaching them to educators and students throughout the state of Ohio. This approach has given a boost to educator planning, while allowing the students to chart and track their progress.
Honda associates are also deeply entrenched in the communities in which they live and work. Look no further than local school boards, government bodies and athletic associations and you will see Honda associates engaged and involved in making their communities a better place to live.
In Ohio, Honda supports volunteering with the Honda Heroes program where associates and retirees can earn Dollars for Doers grants after volunteering 50 or more hours in a 12-month period. To date, Honda associates, spouses and retires have given more than 300,000 volunteer hours in support of our local communities.
Honda Manufacturing of Alabama has a similar program called Honda Stars where associates receive grants for their support of community organizations and groups.
Honda began operations in the U.S. in 1959 with the establishment of American Honda Motor Co., Inc., Honda’s first overseas subsidiary. Honda now employs more than 33,000 associates in North America.
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