Question

How do Honda Canada manage their warehouses (e.g., talk about their picking, packing, sorting, etc.) and Describe their warehouse layout?

Answer 1

answer-

Honda Canada Inc. is the Canadian division of the Honda Motor Company. Founded in 1969, Honda has been building cars in Canada since 1986 in Alliston, Ontario and head office in Markham, Ontario. Since 1964, Honda has been committed to lessening the environmental impact of their business.

honda’s Regional Logistics Centr represents a move towards integration and commonality in the US, but it has also brought about ‘another way of life’ in the OEM’s homeland

A good example of where Honda’s logistics have delivered a fully integrated, common supply chain solution for North America is the company’s Regional Logistics Centr (RLC) in Marysville, Ohio. Launched last year after several years of planning, the RLC handles mainly imported material from Japan. It brought significant change not only for North America, but also for Honda Motor in Japan, particularly in switching from packing parts in fixed knockdown kits to a part-by-part order process.

The RLC acts as a deconsolidation and sorting centr for imported parts, as well as some North American parts for tier two suppliers that Honda sends to its tier ones (a special segment of the supply chain that the carmaker has increasingly been involved in). The 200,000 sq.ft (18,500 sq.m) centr handles around 2,500 part numbers, with around 130 employees working across two main shifts, and a third to manage container returns. The carmaker controls the site with some of its own systems and management, but outsources labour and some warehouse management systems to Honda-owned Midwest Express.

Honda’s North American logistics team demonstrated that there was considerable waste in shipping air and the extra containers, and that Honda Motor would do better to mix its material and max out 40ft containers wherever possible. The RLC could then be used as a buffer to smooth supply to plants or through crossdocks.

Reducing containers shipped to the US is an important outcome, but only one aspect of what makes the RLC transformative for Honda. For the past 35 years, the carmaker has exported its parts on a knockdown basis, usually in fixed batches such as 60 units per kit. This method has dictated not only how parts were packed, but also how they were ordered. Moving in such kits creates stability in processes, however it takes longer to fill orders, thus increasing overall delivery times. This longer lead time also creates more potential obsolescence, particularly in an environment where model changes are so frequent.

“For example, as we are handling all the imported Civic parts, we can track and respond when the Canada plant needs to increase a specific volume, or the Indiana plant needs to decrease,” he explains. “In that way, Canada wouldn’t need to sit on excess inventory. There is no anxiety, just a redistribution of parts that we can manage in the RLC.”

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