Honda Motorcycle & Scooter India (HMSI) inaugurated the fourth assembly line at its third two-wheeler plant at Narsapura (near Bengaluru, Karnataka) in India. With this latest expansion of 600,000 units, Honda2Wheelers India’s combined annual production capacity from all four plants is 6.4 million units annually – making India the No. 1 production hub for Honda’s two-wheeler operation globally for the first time.
Present at the line inauguration at Honda’s third plant in Karnataka were Shinji Aoyama, Chief Officer – Asia and Oceania Regional Operations, Honda Motor Co., Ltd.), Minoru Kato (President & CEO – Honda Motorcycle & Scooter India Pvt. Ltd) and senior management officials from Honda. Firstly, the Narsapura plant is the now World’s Largest two-wheeler plant of Honda. Secondly, this expansion has made India the No. 1 in two-wheeler production base for Honda worldwide.
| Timeline |
1st plant Manesar Haryana |
2nd plant Tapukara Rajasthan |
3rd plant Narsapura Karnataka |
4th Plant Vithalapur Gujarat |
Honda 2Wheeler India total annual production capacity |
| Till FY’2010-11 |
1.6 million |
|
|
1.6 million units |
|
| FY’2011-12 |
|
1.2 million |
2.8 million units |
||
| FY’2013-14 |
|
|
1.8 million |
4.6 million units |
|
| FY’2015-16 |
|
|
0.6 million |
5.2 million units |
|
| FY’2016-17 |
|
|
|
1.2 million |
5.8 million units |
| FY’2017-18 |
|
|
2.4 million |
|
6.4 million units |
Honda’s two-wheeler plant in Narsapura has given a big boost to socio-economic development in Karnataka. Honda together with its 26 suppliers who set up ancillary units locally have invested over INR 5,400 crore and generated nearly 22,000 employment in the state!
Directly, Honda’s Narsapura plant employs 7,000 associates with investment of INR 2,600 crore. Indirectly, 26 new suppliers who up manufacturing facilities in Karnataka have made additional investment of INR 2,800 crore and created 15,000 additional employment opportunities at their plants. The Narsapura plant has many innovations and manufacturing firsts which have contributed to making it the ‘World’s Highest productivity plant of Honda’.
This is Honda’s first 2Wheeler plant worldwide which has a manufacturing innovation of fully automated paint booth air balancing system. The system automatically adjusts amount of air necessary for the paint flow, which was done manually earlier. Additionally, aiming to achieve the enhanced safety and efficiency at production sites, as well as reduction in fatigue of operators. Honda 2wheeler has added on 14 robotic processes which were done manually in the past in the areas including paint shop, welding, and material handling.
At the core of Honda’s 3rd plant is innovation and state of the art manufacturing technology.
Developed with a Green Factory concept, the Narsapura plant is the Honda 2Wheeler India’s only plant with 100% rain water harvesting system (nearly 4 lakh liters of water is recycled and re-used per day with zero external water consumption) and zero liquid discharge plant. The plant is committed to achieve 80% of energy requirements from solar power (generating 85,000 KWH solar power per day) and reduce carbon footprint by 50,000 tonnes of CO2 emissions annually by October 2017.
With its philosophy of Being a Company that society wants to exist; Honda’s third plant in Narsapura has accelerated development in the Kolar District (Karnataka). Since the Narsapura plant’s inauguration, Honda has invested over INR 200 million in various CSR initiatives in rural sports, health & sanitation, rural development, education and environment.