First supercar to roll off the line in late April
Honda’s Performance Manufacturing Center is not a typical Honda factory.
There are repeatable processes as there are at any plant but these can be measured to an accuracy of 30 microns
It is clean and bright but maybe a tad brighter than Honda’s East Liberty, Marysville, Anna and Russells Point plants.
There are no conveyors moving vehicles, engines and transmissions every 30 seconds or so along a serpentine production line nor beeping tow motors hauling trailers full of parts nor loud stamping machines forming metal into body panels or gears.
The automaker’s sole home of Acura’s NSX supercar is less frenetic with an aura of a race car shop on steroids.
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HOME PAGE SLIDE SHOW PHOTO: Associates in PMC’s quality assurance group check data from mobile devices that measure dimensions of a fully assembled NSX. The devices can be located to preset points on the floor and provide measurements to within 50 microns, the thickness of about half a normal human hair. (EXAMINER PHOTOS | JOEL E. MAST) More photos in slide show below. |
Details such as engine fitting and body panel alignment are hyper important as customers will be paying $157,000 to $202,000 for the 574-horsepower machine.
Last week, Honda and Acura hosted media from around the world for plant tours over four days. It was an opportunity to showcase the precision and new technology used to build the NSX.
Cars in the assembly queue are part of the manufacturer’s test production run. The more than 200 or so vehicles are used to meet regulatory testing requirement for the 60 countries where it will be sold.
Orders for the NSX opened in February and production begins in late April.
It will take 14 hours to assemble the powertrain, suspension, electronics, interior and exterior body panels.
Large Project Leader Clement D’Souza, who has led the team which developed PMC, said the tour was part of Acura’s initiative to make owning an NSX an exceptional experience.
Customers will be able to come to the facility and watch the 100 or so associates at PMC build their cars.
“Our associates here have wanted to share the pride and joy they have in building the NSX,” he said.
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“Never in my wildest dreams did I think I would be working on a supercar when I started working for Honda.
“I wanted to build airplanes, but was not able to enter that field after graduating college. I took the job here thinking I would spend five years, get my citizenship and move into the aerospace industry.
“Here I am 26 years later still with Honda. I discovered my true passion was manufacturing and manufacturing engineering.”
Honda approached him about leading the NSX production development, giving him a weekend to decide.
“It took all of three seconds for me to say, ‘Yes,’ ” he said.
He set about recruiting key leaders from Honda’s plants and they studied and visited many competitors’ operations.
“We were all coming from large volume plants and so we wanted to benchmark how small volume plants operate,” he said.
They developed processes Mr. D’Souza believes set a new definition for craftsmanship producing a car that meets all of the specifications and is race track ready when it rolls outs.
The team developed 12 patented processes in the assembly, paint and inspection departments some of which may make it to other Honda plants and service centers.
Doug Duff, who heads up the vehicle quality section which handles final prep of the finished NSX, said project leaders “questioned everything they knew about manufacturing” as they developed processes for the supercar.
“We kept asking ourselves ‘is this the best thing for the NSX?’ ” he said.
Engines are hand-built at Anna, tested and given a break-in that is the equivalent of a 150-mile drive.
The aluminum space frame — the first of its kind for Honda — is constructed by precision robotic welders using a 360-degree rotating carriage.
In a first for the automotive industry, the NSX’s frame incorporates six ablation cast parts which serve as critical mounting points for the suspension and drive train.
Precise measurements are taken throughout the entire build process and the quality confirmation center samples frames and finished cars to make sure the NSX meets design requirements.
Critical bolts are started by hand and tightened to specifications using wireless torque wrenches that record reading on computers for each bolt.
The body panels are put on at the end of the assembly line and, depending on the paint option, there can be up to 11 coats.
Assembly technicians are given up to 62 minutes at each station to complete their tasks.
At full production, just eight NSX supercars will roll off the assembly line each day.
Abby Pennington, a Logan County resident who spent 18 years at the Anna Engine Plant prior to joining PMC, said she has more tasks in the body assembly portion.
“You have to think ahead, but you have the time to accomplish your tasks,” she said. “It was completely out of my comfort zone when I started, but now it’s pretty awesome to be part of the NSX project.”
As for the idea customers might be looking over her shoulder while she works, Ms. Pennington said, “I was little nervous about the idea at first.”
But after four days of media tours, she is warming up to the idea of being a personal car builder for the NSX customer.
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