Chris Hardman grew up in the Middleburg area riding minibikes and motorcycles on his family’s rural property and came of age as Honda was launching its motorcycle production across the county line.
Chris Hardman kneels next to a 2019 Acura RDX, a vehicle for which he served as manufacturing quality production leader. (HONDA PHOTO | PAUL VERNON)
“It was the big buzz around the area when I was in high school,” he said. “I thought it would be cool to build motorcycles and it was something I wanted to do.”
Upon graduating from Benjamin Logan High School in 1984, Hardman applied for a job with Honda and was hired on.
Honda was ramping up its auto production at the time and he joined the associates building cars.
His dream of building motorcycles went unfulfilled as he found a niche in quality control and has spent most of his 34 years making sure Honda and Acura cars and light trucks leaving the local plants meet the customers’ expectations.
Even so, his years with Honda of America Manufacturing Inc. have been fulfilling.
“Getting in with the company as early as I did, I found there were so many opportunities to advance,” Hardman said. “A college degree wasn’t necessary. I still think there are opportunities for someone who is a hardworker. Maybe not as many as when I started but they’re still there.”
Hardman started on the Marysville Auto Plant assembly line and worked there for three years before moving into the paint department. He moved onto the East Liberty Auto Plant soon after it opened and has been there since.
That is when he’s not taking advantage of training opportunities here and abroad or traveling around the world to learn the expectations of customers.
Hardman, like many U.S. associates, spent time in Japan learning Honda’s philosophy of auto production. It also gave him opportunities to learn another culture.
He distinguished himself in the area of quality control and progressed up the leadership chain.
His latest step landed him as manufacturing quality production leader for the newly-released 2019 Acura RDX, a vehicle that is selling well and earning the highest safety rating from the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety.
Read complete story in Tuesday’s Examiner.
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