The world is always changing, and when you open this article, it is no exception. The sharp turn of the industry has forced the strong to consider turning around the big ship.
on April 1st, 22, that is, today, Honda, the technical representative of automobile manufacturers, will undergo the biggest change since its establishment in 1946, and formally begin to implement a new organizational structure: the original independent structure of sales (S), production (E), development (D) and procurement (B) will be replaced by the integrated operation system of SEDB, which originally.
technology was originally Honda's most popular label. Just like a sentence on the title page of Honda published by Liaohai Publishing House at the end of last century: "Inventing is like falling in love. In the eyes of outsiders, I often can't sleep at night, and I feel that this is a living sin. But in my opinion, nothing is more interesting than this. "
Since Honda's founder, Shoichiro Honda, this "craftsman" car company has taken "technology first" as its brand personality. On the one hand, it was a little behind in marketing and packaging because of its deep research and development, on the other hand, it gained a unique and powerful appeal with its simple and vigorous characteristics. The label of "Honda Powder" brought together countless fanatical technical houses.
however, this situation will be changed with the transformation of the new organizational structure.
when the weak relationship between Honda research institute and production and operation becomes strong, the original unconstrained technical researchers have to consider the actual needs of the market. There is no doubt that the outside world will worry about whether the brand image of Honda's "technology fanatic" will change. What fans are more afraid of is that the image of "technical Honda" will be diluted in this compromise to reality.
however, the change lies not only in Honda, but also in the concept of "technology" itself.
From evolution to change
Honda was founded by Shoichiro Honda in p>1946. Since September 1948, the name "Honda Technology Research Industry Co., Ltd." has spread to all directions. From the "mechanical bicycle" that was originally a two-wheeled motorcycle in essence, to Honda's super-running and even Honda? Jet jet business jet, research and development has always been Honda's core competitiveness.
what? This can be seen from the independent position of the technical research institute in the company structure. In 196, Honda's proud technical research institute was separated from the entity of the company's research and development department under the proposal of elders such as Tsuichiro Honda and Takeo Fujisawa. The purpose is to keep the distance between R&D and entity operation, so as to ensure the creativity and independence of technicians.
In p>1963, Honda began to enter the field of four-wheeled vehicles. Relatively independent research institutes supported Honda to enter the global market and shaped its own unique brand charm. In the past 6 years, R&D and operation have maintained a relatively independent structure, which not only made Honda form a corporate culture of acting independently and acting quickly, but also attracted a large number of "Honda powder" with its stubborn personality, making Honda the most distinctive brand in the automobile market.
In the face of such a department with full achievements in the past, Honda has raised a "scalpel" to it, which makes people wonder. What is the motivation of Honda's reform?
"With the expansion of business scale, the trend of division of labor management in companies is becoming more and more obvious, which often leads to the result of" department optimization ",which easily leads to repeated work and waste among organizations, and also leads to unclear division of responsibilities. This organizational system is increasingly constraining the company to play its previous advantages." In a recent interview with Auto Commune, Honda once said this.
Indeed, in the previous structure, Honda Research Institute was separated from the actual Honda Technical Research Industry, and the Honda Technical Research Industry's structure of parallel production, procurement, business management and automobile business headquarters will produce unnecessary work waste to a certain extent, which will be eliminated to a great extent through the reform of Honda.
"First of all, through the integrated operation system, knowledge in various fields can be concentrated, comprehensive advantages can be maximized, planning accuracy can be improved, and rework and waste can be reduced; Secondly, clarify the decision makers in the work promotion process and further strengthen the "quick decision" system. " When referring to the expectation of this reform, Honda once said this.
However, in the reporter's opinion, improving work efficiency through the optimization of organizational structure is only the "superficial reason" of this reform, and the deeper reason is that Honda is facing many realistic and future pressures, which has already reached the point where it has to change.
according to the sales data released by Honda recently, in the first two months of this year, Honda sold 675,5 vehicles in the world, down 22.2% year-on-year, of which Europe dropped 32.3%. North America fell by 7.1% year on year. Aside from the adverse effects of the epidemic, it is an indisputable fact that Honda has begun to decline in the global market except China.
According to the financial report released by Honda in the third fiscal quarter (October 1, 219 to December 31, 219), in the third fiscal quarter, Honda's operating income was 3,747.5 billion yen, down 5.7% year-on-year; Operating profit was 166.6 billion yen, down 2.1% year-on-year; The net profit was 116.4 billion yen, down 3.8% year-on-year. In the first three fiscal quarters (April 1, 219-December 31, 219), Honda's operating profit was 639.2 billion yen, down 6.5% year-on-year; Sales revenue was 1,147.29 billion yen, down 3.1% year-on-year; The pre-tax profit was 786.1 billion yen, down 9.4% year-on-year.
The automobile industry is moving towards maturity and refinement. All mainstream car companies are getting bigger, and almost all contemporary technology projects are burning more money than ever before. Therefore, financial keywords such as profit and cash flow have forced technical houses like Honda to pay more attention and energy to accountants' books, and cannot continue to focus only on maintaining the simple and stubborn and indifferent pride of traditional craftsmen.
It can be said that after Toyota is the representative of pursuing lean and efficiency, giant car companies such as Volkswagen and General Motors have embarked on the road of profitability and efficiency first, and even withdrawing from the sequence of global car companies and focusing on high-profit business can become a trend.
If market pressure is the inducement to force Honda to reform, the future full of variables and uncertainties is the potential driving force for Honda to reform. What is even more shocking is that the concept of technology itself may not escape this variable.
is it a variable or a doom?
For Honda's technical label, the future is facing great changes. Not only is the environmental adaptability of the technology changing, but it is no longer possible to maintain an excellent reputation forever by relying on fuel engine technology such as red hair motivation. At the same time, the connotation of automobile technology is also changing. The direction of the new four modernizations has forced Honda to think about the linkage between electric vehicles and intelligent networks, which have scoffed at the original gasoline car fans.
obviously, Honda's old fuel vehicle technology research and development can no longer "win the world", which is determined by the compliance demand of the technology itself and the growing efficiency goal of the industry.
In addition to the pressure of market and profit, the parallel structure of Honda Technology Research Institute and Honda Technology Research Industry has also produced a certain degree of waste. As a department far away from the first-line market, Honda Institute of Technology has maintained the independence of its own design, but it is faced with the situation that it cannot be fully applied in the actual mass production application.
Faced with this problem, Honda said in an interview: "The development plan of automobile products needs to be ahead of the current demand of consumers to a certain extent."
It is true that "R&D is advanced" is the most basic operation in automobile development, but if R&D is too advanced, many R&D achievements can't be put into mass production smoothly, which is another waste. More interestingly, Honda's business scope is much larger than the image seen by consumers in China. When you open Honda's global official website, you will find everything from airplanes, ships and cars to generators, lawn machines, irrigation machines and even walking AIDS, and such "finished products" are only part of the transformation results of "advanced research and development", which to a great extent shows that Honda Technical Research Institute has a lot of technical reserves.
"After this reform, the development department of mass production products originally located in the automobile R&D center of Honda Institute of Technology will be merged into the automobile business headquarters of Honda Technical Research Industry Co., Ltd. to improve the accuracy of career and product planning, reduce costs and improve the efficiency of business operation. But at the same time, Honda Technology Research Institute will still exist. So far, Honda Technology Research Institute has been developing many world-first technologies. In the future, Honda Technology Research Institute will return to its original heart and strengthen research and development of future-oriented and more advanced new value technologies, including autonomous driving. " Honda said this.
apart from the fact that the research institute is somewhat out of touch with Honda's technology research industry, Honda's layout in the field of electrification is also a little slow. On the one hand, Honda, who has appeared for three years? E delayed listing; On the other hand, there are only two "localized models" in China, where the new energy market is in full swing. Compared with Toyota's perfect layout from weak mixing, strong mixing, pure electricity and hydrogen power, Honda is indeed in a relatively backward position.
The pressure is more than electrification. Under the background of the increasingly close integration of intelligent technology and traditional cars, the layout of the future market for car companies has become broader, from intelligent interconnection and driverless, to intelligent transportation and smart cities, all of which require research investment. Such a huge change is a huge pressure for Honda and even the entire automobile industry.
in other words, the technological "bull" degree of automobile manufacturers in the future will not only depend on the compression ratio, power increase and low failure rate of gasoline engines, but also on how many patents of "Three Electric Technologies" and "Intelligent Network Connection" are mastered in their hands, and more importantly, whether they can afford research and development costs and realize profits.
under this macro background, it is reasonable for Honda to strengthen the connection between research institute and actual production and operation through structural reform, so as to optimize its own operation and profit, and gradually transform into the direction of new technology research and development.
a sign worth pondering is that Honda is struggling to fill its own gaps under the technical framework of the new four modernizations. In October 219, according to the list released by China National Research Center for Industrial Information Security Development, Honda ranked 4th among the top ten companies/institutions in the field of intelligent driving technology.
However, the reconstruction of technical route will obviously impact or even deconstruct Honda's technical label in the era of fuel vehicles. Whether Honda can continue to lead technology research and development in new fields is still unknown. Even if Honda becomes a big cow in electrification and autonomous driving research and development, it will take a long time for the audience to buy it, which is another question mark. Variable, or doom, will be a severe test for skilled craftsmen.
China influences geometry?
corresponding to the structural reform, there are huge personnel changes. Among them, Taixiu Mizuno, who used to be the head of Honda China, the general manager of Honda Jiyan Industry (China) Investment Co., Ltd. and the general manager of Honda Jiyan Technology (China) Co., Ltd., will become the head of Honda's automobile business, and will co-ordinate all the previously relatively scattered sales, production, development, procurement and other businesses.
As the dominant market of Honda, China has always been the top priority of Honda's layout. In this structural reform, apart from Mizuno Taixiu, who is familiar with the China market, becoming the leader of the global automobile sector, Honda's China factory in China has also been incorporated into Guangqi Honda.
on March 29th, Guangqi Honda officially announced that on April 1st, 22, Guangqi Honda will formally complete the absorption and merger of Honda Motor (China) Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as Honda China), which will be renamed as Guangqi Honda Guangzhou Development Zone Factory. After the merger, Guangqi Honda will retain Honda China's original vehicle production and export and global KD parts supply.
The global export KD parts supply business will supply mass-produced parts to Honda's vehicle factories in 13 countries and regions, including Thailand. In terms of vehicle business, Guangqi Honda will use its annual production capacity of 5, vehicles to continue to produce CITY models and export them to the Mexican market. At the same time, it will also start production of domestic models from April, with the first model being Accord.
this seemingly simple integration, on the one hand, shows the initial intention of Honda's architecture optimization to reduce costs in coordination, on the other hand, it also shows that Honda, which originally pursued the ultimate technology, began to pursue the improvement of market performance.
You know, last year, Guangqi Honda's basic production capacity was 6, vehicles, achieving an overall production and sales achievement of 76, vehicles. This year, the basic production capacity transformation project of Guangqi Honda's third factory has been put into production, and the production capacity has been expanded from 12, vehicles/year to 24, vehicles/year. Together with the newly integrated production capacity of Honda China of 5, vehicles/year, Guangqi Honda has formed an annual total production capacity of 77, vehicles in 22. If it is overloaded as it was last year, Guangqi Honda already has the ability to produce 1 million vehicles a year. The third factory of Dongfeng Honda was officially put into production last year. Dongfeng Honda, with an annual production capacity of 6, vehicles, is also moving towards the goal of 1 million vehicles. The pattern of 2 million vehicles of Honda in China has already appeared.
In fact, the shadow of Honda's pursuit of sales in China has already appeared. As early as 213, when Honda established the FUNTEC technology brands in the China market, it only included the powertrain field Earth? Dreams? With the passage of time, FUNTEC has gradually become synonymous with advanced Technology, which is widely recognized by consumers. Honda also took the opportunity to electrify ELECTRIC and Honda? CONNECT smart internet, Honda? SENSING security extrasensory, MOBILITY? SHARING*** enjoy travel and other contents are all included in FUNTEC technology brands.
from 213 to now, while the scope of FUNTEC technology brands has been gradually expanded and gradually recognized by consumers, Mizuno Taixiu has also switched from the positions of general manager of Dongfeng Honda, general manager of Guangqi Honda and general manager of Honda China. It is no exaggeration to say that Mizuno Taixiu witnessed the whole process of FUNTEC technology brands dominating the China market.
At present, Mizuno Taixiu has become the head of Honda's global automobile department. Whether it will do the same thing and promote Honda's stride in the global market, we can't judge, but it is certain that its ability to pursue market share will be gradually demonstrated in the global market.
Honda has changed.
It used to be a paranoid person who highly admired technology, and it was "impossible to get away from a sales brand that pursued market share". However, the pace of the times is moving in that direction, and even Honda, which is blunt in chasing the trend and gaining momentum, cannot disobey it. When Honda is pushing its own transformation, should we cheer for this adaptability, or mourn for the passing of the old days? I am afraid that the switch between joy and sorrow is only between thoughts.
Wen/Xu Jinkai
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