Encounter with a Cast-off Military Surplus Engine

HISTORY
The Starting-point of the “Dream” and the “Response to the Needs of OF
the Time” (1946)
HONDA
Soichiro Honda was born on November 17, 1906, in Komyo Village (now Tenryu City), Iwata
County, Shizuoka Prefecture .
CRITICAL
INCIDENTS
One day in September 1946, Mr. Honda visited the home of a friend, Kenzaburo Inukai. There, by IN
THE
chance, he came upon a small engine. He had come to know Mr. Inukai through LIFE OF
automobile
repair work he did when he was running the Hamamatsu branch of Art Shokai and Mr. Inukai was
HONDA.
running a taxi company. Mr. Inukai happened to have a generator engine designed for a No. 6
wireless radio from the former Imperial Army that an acquaintance had left with him. When Mr.
Honda saw it, he was immediately inspired with an idea. It was a moment of destiny. This
encounter determined his whole future direction, and it was from this decisiveThe
moment that the
Honda A-Type,
later Honda Motor Co. would be born. Honda’s First
Product on the
Mr. Honda had started out as an automobile repair mechanic. Engines were what he knew best,
Market (1947)
and on top of that, he was an inventor.

It did not take him any time to come up with an idea: “Let’s use this to power With the chimney engine
a bicycle.”
development suspended,
Honda
The notion of attaching an auxiliary engine to power a bicycle had been around for ahad
longtotime.
hasten
It the
had been made into a commercial product in .. work of coming up with the
next plan. This turned out
to be the Honda
Suddenly, the Honda Characteristics Begin to Show: company’s first original
“Engineering Without Personality Doesn’t Have Much Value.”
product (1947)
to be sold on the
market, the Honda A-Type.
The first of their prototype engines was the legendary “chimney” engine.
Compared to the radically
President Honda thought up a thoroughly unique concept for a new engine, and showed it to
Kawashima by “drawing it on the shop floor.” Crouching down and sketching innovative chimney design,
out conceptual
drawings on the floor was an unchanging habit throughout his life. this appeared to be a
“Just in terms of business, we could have done fine by simply making copies of the engine for the
rather orthodox 2-stroke
No. 6 wireless radio,” said Kawashima. “It pretty much had the performance we needed, after all.
engine.couldn’t
But by that time, he had already become the Old Man we know, and he absolutely However, as
stand
to simply make that engine the way it was. He didn’t like to copy things.” Kawashima explains:
Kawashima took what President Honda had told him, and the rough sketches, and set to work on
turning them into engineering designs.
Afterward, when President Honda looked at the designs from his engineers, he would invariably
ask:
“What part of this is new? What part is different from other makes?”
This was always the first thing he would ask, and so it was with this first engine that he made,
which differed from the conventional design .
“The intake assembly didn’t use the piston valves you saw elsewhere. Instead, it had rotary disk valves
attached to the side of the crankcase. Therefore the carburetor was also attached to the crankcase
rather than next to the cylinder. At this time, this was revolutionary. I thought the Old Man was
incredible to come up with an idea like that.”

Furthermore, the manually-operated belt transmission mechanism that also was used for the clutch was
patented. This was just one of the ways in which this product showed itself as a true Honda Motor Co.
product. The A-Type engine has not attracted much attention for anything other than its distinction in
being the first Honda product. However, looking at it from another angle, it was this A-Type engine that
suddenly brought out the extraordinary characteristics of Honda Motor Co

Takeo Fujisawa Joins Honda

Takeo Fujisawa was born on November 10, 1910, in Koishikawa-ku (now Bunkyo-ku), Tokyo, as the
eldest son of Hideshiro Fujisawa and his wife Yuki. After a series of jobs in banking and other sectors,
his father Shushiro had become the manager of the Jitsueisha, a publicity company that made slide
commercials for display at movie theaters. In 1923, when the young Fujisawa was in his first year at
Kyoka Middle School, the Great Kanto Earthquake dealt the whole family a terrible blow. The Jitsueisha
was destroyed and the elder Fujisawa was left with nothing but borrowed money to live on. Later he
planned to revive the movie industry but the tremendous efforts he had made after the disaster had
wrecked his health and he became an invalid. The young Fujisawa hoped to became a teacher but
failed the official Tokyo school examinations and worked as a professional copyist, writing addresses
on envelopes in order to support the family and devoting his leisure time to reading literature. When we
see how successful the Takeo Fujisawa was in his later life it is difficult to imagine what a shy young
man and poor speaker he was in his early years

If You’re Not the No.1 in the World, You Can’t Be No.1 in Japan (1952)

“Rather than use money, use your wisdom.”

This was a favorite saying of Mr. Honda to his engineers, but there was one big problem he couldn’t
solve no matter how hard he thought about it–machine tools. To improve the specification of
components, you need high-precision machine tools. Even though the company was performing
marvelously, the Dream E-Type was a big hit and sales of the Cub F-Type were positively explosive,
Mr. Honda was still totally dissatisfied with the level of precision of his components. Although he wanted
to be number one in the world, he realized more than anyone else that he would never be able to make
a breakthrough using his existing machine tools. In June 1952, Honda carried out its second capital
increase bringing the company’s capitalization to ¥6 million and Fujisawa became senior managing
director. In October of the same year, the company decided on a program to invest as much as ¥450
million in the latest imported machine tools

“Putting the Customer First” (1953)

In January 1953, Honda moved its Head Office and its Sales Department to 2-5 Maki-Machi, Chuo-ku,
Tokyo, the site of today’s Honda Yaesu Building. That same January the company bought a 100,000
square-meter site at Yamato-machi, Saitama Prefecture, and started construction of the Yamato Plant
(now the Wako Plant of the Saitama Factory). In April the Shirako Plant was completed and started full-
scale production. The branch network was expanded as well, with offices in Nagoya, Shikoku, Osaka,
and Kyushu.
Sales of the Dream and Cub got better and better.

The slogan “120% Quality” first appeared in an article in the March 1953 issue of Honda Monthly. It was
typical of Honda’s style.

“When human beings aim for 100% they will always miss by about 1%. If a customer buys one of our
products that falls short by that 1%, it will mean that Honda has sold a product that is 100% defective.
To eliminate the possibility of missing by 1%, we should aim for 120% quality.” People who were in the
company at that time would get their practical education from Mr. Honda in even more blunt terms

Maintaining an international viewpoint, we are dedicated to supplying

products of the highest efficiency, yet at reasonable prices, for worldwide
customer satisfaction." (1956)

The above was printed in the Honda Company News No. 23, published in January 1956.
Together with the Company Principle, it also contained "Corporate Management Policy." Both of these
remain the source texts for the present statement of corporate objectives and operating policy.
Some of the Honda veterans remember their first impression of these statements.
"I thought, they've come up with splendid Company Principle," said Kihachiro Kawashima. "That's what
I honestly felt at the time. However, I don't recall whether it was posted anywhere in the company

"Quality Products have no International Boundaries"(1956)

In 1956, Messrs. Honda and Fujisawa traveled to Europe together. On the surface, their purpose was
to make an observation trip, but actually the two had an idea for a completely new product, and they
took this trip in order to substantiate it.
The Cub F-Type had gone out of production. The type of bike known as a "Mopet" in Japan (derived
from the European motorbike with pedals known as a Moped) was growing in popularity there,
replacing the auxiliary engine for bicycles.
Every time Honda looked at the mopeds running on the streets in Europe, he would ask Fujisawa:
"That kind there? Or this kind here?"
Fujisawa would just shake his head

Achieving a Breakthrough in America (1959)

"We have now established ourselves on solid ground domestically," said Senior Managing Director
Takeo Fujisawa. "Eventually, we'll have to aim to be number one worldwide. So, with that in mind, why
don't you go check out the overseas market?"

The order had thus been given, and Kihachiro Kawashima, then manager of the Sales Section at
headquarters, began his preparations to study the Southeast Asian market. It was a logical step for the
company to take, since it had within a mere seven years established itself as a top manufacturer in the
Japanese motorcycle industry. And now the expansion of exports to overseas markets was a very real
possibility, reflecting a shift in Honda's policy from domestic fulfillment to a more international profile,
featuring such products as the Dream (in 250 cc and 350 cc versions) and Benly (125 cc).

Honda soon began exporting sample motorcycles, about which Fujisawa was emphatic. "Instead of
relying on a trading company," he said, "we should first take a look at the overseas market for
ourselves. Then we'll find the best way to do business there."

The R&D Center that never was

A special meeting was held in Tokyo early in 1962 to promote the establishment of Soseikai, an
incorporated foundation. According to the minutes of that meeting, Chairman Fukuzo Kawahara (and
former executive vice-president of Mitsubishi Bank, then-director of Mitsubishi Metal Corp.) proposed
that Takeo Fujisawa (then the senior managing director) explain the purpose of establishing Soseikai.
Fujisawa began with the following statement:
There are two objectives in the establishment of this new foundation. The first is to contribute to
cultural development through research and associated projects in natural science, cultural, and
social science, and in particular, technical promotion. The second is to provide half of the
shares in the Honda R&D as a basic asset for the establishment of an incorporated foundation,
thereby completing the original mission of an R&D Center that can in turn contribute to society.
The Honda R&D Center was separated from Honda Motor in July 1960 to be a fully independent entity.
Fifty percent of its shares belonged to Honda Motor, and the balance was split evenly between Soichiro
Honda and Takeo Fujisawa. The plan was to establish Soseikai, based on the latter shares held by
Honda and Fujisawa.

"Let's keep a record of your hard work!"

The April 1960 issue of Yamato Factory Bulletin magazine featured an article entitled, "Do You Have
Great Skills That No One Knows About?" This article suggested that work-history notebooks should be
created and distributed to all workplaces.

This work-history notebook was intended to be much like a diary. It was to allow each employee to
share the hopes and passion invested in his or her hard work-and as well with the frustrations-with
colleagues and supervisors alike. The notebook was to be kept at work for anyone to read, anytime. Its
aim was to properly evaluate the individual's efforts and uncover any special skills that could be brought
to the fore

The Concept of a “People’s Car”

“A four-seater with a top speed of 100 km/h, priced at ¥150,000*: this was the description of a car
foreseen in an executive summary from the “People’s Car” concept, a promotional program announced
by the Ministry of International Trade and Industry in May 1955. It immediately established the
engineering target for those who would be creating the passenger cars of the coming era. Eventually
several mini passenger models debuted in answer to MITI’s proposal, including the Suzu-Light
(October 1955) and Subaru 360 (March 1958).
Naturally, consumers expected Honda to join the trend and begin automobile production. However,
Soichiro Honda remained somewhat cautious about the matter, offering his opinion in the December
1959 issue of the Honda Company Newsletter (Vol. 50): “We shouldn’t rush into auto production,” he
stated, “until we conduct thorough research and are absolutely confident that every requirement has
been fulfilled, including the performance of our cars and production facilities.

Story

EEC: Leaping the Hurdle into Europe

By June 1961, sales of motorcycles by American Honda Motor (American

Honda)were registering some momentum. At about this time, Honda
established a wholly owned sales company, European Honda GmbH
(European Honda, presently Honda Motor Europe (North) GmbH) in
Hamburg, Germany (then West Germany), in order to expand its exports
overseas. Just as it had done in the U.S., Honda took up the challenge of
opening a European motorcycle market.

Ironically, that month Honda swept the top five spots in the 250 cc and
125 cc classes at the Isle of Man TT racing event in the U.K. It was only
the third year that Honda had participated in the event. Honda was
indeed making a name for itself throughout Europe and the U.K

Becoming a World-class Manufacturer

In the 1950s, Honda was well on its way to becoming a leader in the world of motorcycle
manufacturing. Honda’s Yamato Plant in Saitama, currently Saitama Factory’s Wako Plant, went into
operation in May 1953. In July of that year, its was combined with Shirako Plant, and together they
became Saitama Factory. Aoi Plant in Hamamatsu, now Hamamatsu Factory, began operating in 1954.
Initially, in order to secure more effective machine processing at the plants, their respective
Manufacturing Machinery divisions were intended to produce jigs and modify machines to meet the
target specifications. These functions soon expanded, however. By 1956, when Honda expanded its
lineup with the Dream and Benly models, the Manufacturing Machinery divisions were already
developing original machines to process cylinder heads and crankcases. These were the so-called
modular components of their day.

Gaining an Edge in the Global Competition

Honda found itself surrounded by an atmosphere of upheaval in the 1970s, both in Japan and abroad.

Yet, that situation had actually arisen much earlier-in the mid-1960s when, along with advancing
industrialization and motorization, air pollution had become a serious social issue. The Clean Air Act of
1970 passed by the U.S. Congress resulted in even stricter regulations regarding tailpipe emissions.
Moreover, the Clean Air Act had influenced the Japanese government to tighten its own policies.
Accordingly, auto manufacturers had to comply with such demands, and with no time to waste.
Company President Soichiro Honda put out a call to action on behalf of researchers at the R&D Center,
saying, “This allows latecomers like us to line up at the same starting line as our rivals.” His
encouragement extended to all Honda associates. “Now is the chance,” he said, emphasizing his view
of the matter in several issues of the Honda Company Newsletter.