Honda Motor Co. hopes to revolutionize the business aviation market with the Model 420 HondaJet. Its Honda Aircraft Co. division recently opened a state-of-the-art manufacturing facility in Greensboro, NC.

Honda engineers are currently in the process of installing production equipment and tools to support assembly ramp-up, which will begin early next year. The main assembly area features a linear layout for optimal workflow and efficiency.

When laying out the plant floor, Honda Aircraft borrowed some ideas from the automotive industry. “Similar to all Honda production operations, the HondaJet plant focuses on maximizing the efficiency of the assembly process from start to finish,” claims Michimasa Fujino, president and CEO of Honda Aircraft Co.

Honda is focusing on a strategic production control and logistics plan that will lead to just-in-time delivery of aircraft subassemblies and components as an integral part of an efficient assembly process. The Greensboro plant’s material controls infrastructure features highly automated parts cage racking systems that can call within seconds tens of thousands of parts from highly efficient vertical storage locations within the facility.

In addition, several new types of assembly tools will be used on the HondaJet assembly line, including:

“Assembly and systems installation are optimized at each point in the process,” says Fujino. “This integrated approach will allow [us] to achieve the highest possible levels of quality and reliability for the HondaJet.” A