January 18, 2006

Time frame from Start to Finish to Build a Honda Car/Vehicle:

I made a call to Honda Marysville Auto Plant in Ohio and ask Ron, how long does it take to Build One Honda from start to Finish. This is the answer he replied with today on my E-Mail.

We all speak of FE about Hybrids and Non-Hybrids daily and I just thought everyone would find it interesting to know this. I did.

Quote from Honda:

Terry,

We don't provide model- specific information on how long it takes to produce a vehicle, but I can tell you that at the Marysville Auto Plant in Ohio, it takes approximately two shifts -- or 16 hours -- to produce a vehicle. This is from the start of welding through the paint process (which includes curing time) and through assembly of the vehicle into a finished product. Unfortunately, I cannot specify how long it takes to produce a hybrid vehicle. Though production of hybrid vehicles involves some different processes, the production time would be similar to other vehicles.

Sorry I cannot be specific about the Civic Hybrid model.


Best Regards,
Ron

Fleetwide it takes Honda approximately 32.02 hours to produce a vehicle, making it third in line after Nissa at 29.43 and Toyota at 27.9

For comparison's sake, Chrysler currently produces a vehicle in 35.85 hours.

Currently:
2003 Honda Element SLMEX4WDAuto

By March:
2006 Honda Civic Hybrid MP

"Having the potential to accomplish great things without having actually accomplished them is worthless. What did you accomplish today?"

I don't mind them taking a little extra time ... time can mean a more delicate touch and higher quality. I am suprised that a car can be completed in two shifts. I wonder how many cars they start and finish per day ...

I believe the difference in the numbers Sheniferous gave (32.02 hours) and Terry gave (2 shifts = 16 hours) is that the 32 hour number reflects the time put into making the parts as well as the assembly labor.

Sheniferous, can you share your source for various manufacturers total time per vehicle?

Thanks,
MG

from this blog post:

http://www.autoblog.com/2006/01/13/c...ed-efficiency/

that quoted this article:

http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll...601130366/1148

and this google cache gives the figures i quoted earlier:

http://72.14.203.104/search?q=cache:...ient=firefox-a

this one too:

http://search.japantimes.co.jp/print...20050604a6.htm

Currently:
2003 Honda Element SLMEX4WDAuto

By March:
2006 Honda Civic Hybrid MP

"Having the potential to accomplish great things without having actually accomplished them is worthless. What did you accomplish today?"

Must be that quality union labor.

Well, if they're building 25,000 HCHs per year and the plant operates seven days a week, 365 days a year, then they have to make 68.5 vehicles per day. If the plant is shut down some days then it has to build more per day.

Elan

2006 HCH Alabaster Silver w/Navi
2003 Honda Accord LX

at least one car complete every 10 minutes once you factor in breaks, shift changes, meetings, and time off. Rather amazing in my eyes. I have worked manufacturing and production for a while, and that would be a smooth operation for such a complicated product and the amount of workers involved.

I have asked before but had no reply. How does an HCH II get from Suzuka to a dealer? Do some shipments come to the east coast via the Panama Canal and others direct to the west coast? Where do they get held by Customs until release to Honda and how are they loaded and distributed? Rail or road to the dealer? What a huge adminisrative effort to match delivery of spares to be timed to arrive at the same time as the first shipment. Awesome!

Unlikely for the ship to unload on the east coast. My guess is that all of the imported Hondas (Insight, HCH, S2000) come in through the port of Los Angeles (generally a 2 week transit on the container ship) then distributed via truck and rail to other parts of the country (which is why even on the west coast there is a 30 - 45 day wait for a Civic Hybrid when coming from Japan).

Currently:
2003 Honda Element SLMEX4WDAuto

By March:
2006 Honda Civic Hybrid MP

"Having the potential to accomplish great things without having actually accomplished them is worthless. What did you accomplish today?"