Honda tweaks Odyssey production process at Alabama plant

Honda's Alabama factory will begin mass production of the redesigned Odyssey minivan in about four weeks, a company executive said Monday during an auto industry event in Michigan.

The production version of the Odyssey, which has been updated for the 2011 model year, made its debut in June during a dealer meeting in Denver.

The new vehicle has a sleeker shape than its predecessor, along with more space for passengers and cargo and new twists on storage compartments.

The latest Odyssey also is bringing changes to Honda's production processes, Mike Oatridge, vice president of manufacturing at the Lincoln plant, said during the Center for Automotive Research's Management Briefing Seminars in Traverse City, Mich.

For instance, during past model changes, employees would begin writing operations standards after the first prototypes were built. This time, they were written before then, allowing workers to make a vehicle geared to their actual process flow and not a hypothetical concept.

Specific assembly steps changed, too, to improve ergonomics and cut waste. On the current Odyssey, for example, employees use a rubber mallet to ensure the rear quarter glass is fitted properly, but for building the new minivan, there's an attachment clip that makes that task easier.

Elsewhere, new larger parts have been moved to a supplier for subassembly, eliminating the need for employees to do overhead work. Lift-assist devices also were added on the Lincoln assembly lines.

The Alabama plant was involved in the earliest stages of the new Odyssey's development, Oatridge said, with several manufacturing workers embedded in a Honda research and development center in Ohio.

"This was a year before they issued their first drawings, which provided the chance to learn about the conceptual ideas for the new product and how it would impact the plant," Oatridge said in his speech, which was provided by Honda.

He also outlined the plant's response to the industry's deep sales slump in 2008 and 2009, which forced output to be slashed and production to be idled on more than 65 days.

During that time, Honda shifted production of the Ridgeline pickup from Canada to Alabama. The move kept Alabama workers busy while they continued to build the slow-selling Odyssey and Pilot SUVs, and it freed up more space in Canada to build the better-selling Civic.

Honda also shifted production of the V-6 Accord sedan from Ohio to Alabama, allowing more 4-cylinders Accords to be built in Ohio.

Sales of the Alabama-made vehicles have been improving along with the rest of the industry, prompting overtime in Lincoln.

But there's a lot riding on the new Odyssey, which will compete with Toyota's redesigned Sienna minivan, launched earlier this year.

The new Odyssey will arrive on dealer lots this fall.

Source;
http://blog.al.com/businessnews/2010/08/honda_tweaks_odyssey_productio.html