Honda Factory Tour - 23 Feb 2009

As part of the learning enhancement process, on Monday, 23 February 2009 10.30AM, a group of 50 students from Operations Management OPR1010 class visited Honda Factory in Sayama-shi, Saitama prefecture. The group was accompanied by Prof Kurata who is teaching the class and Toru Wada, an administrative staff from GSIM.

The journey took about 3 hours, excluding the one-hour lunch stop-over at Akagi-Kogen service area. The group reached the factory at about 2.30PM and was greeted by two friendly engineers who then split the group into two sub-groups and took them to car assembly sites to observe the production process of Honda automobiles. Equipped with one headset for every student, and supported by Prof Kurata’s translation, students were able to understand the briefings while observing the production processes.

After visiting the assembly sites, the group headed to a room where a corporate video of Honda Saitama factory was presented. Following the video presentation, Q&A session was held to clarify any doubts. IUJ students participated actively in the discussion, with Prof Kurata acting as the translator and intermediator.

As a token of visit from Honda, IUJ students were given a corporate cap, brochure and a plastic container. Before leaving the factory, the group visited Honda car showroom and took group pictures there. It was really a fruitful and enjoyable trip.

(reported by William Rimbun, 1st Year MBA)