Establishment of Honda Sun
Six months after Soichiro’s visit, in July 1978, the Precision Machinery Section at Japan Sun Industries was immediately established as a vocational training*1 course and began operations. The number of associates was 16, including 12 persons with disabilities. The first order was for the assembly of motorcycle meters in cooperation with Nippon Seiki. The following year, in 1979, the company received orders from Stanley Electric.
Honda Sun was established in September 1981, with funding from Honda, Nihonseiki Co., Ltd., and the social welfare corporation Japan Sun Industries. Ltd. In 1982, Honda Lock (later Minebea AccessSolutions Inc.), and in 1985, Stanley Electric, Toyo Denso, and Mitsuba Electric Mfg (later Mitsuba) contributed capital, establishing a five-company structure.
A modern factory was completed on the premises of Japan Sun Industries, as part of the annexed work building, which housed Honda Sun on the first floor, Sony Taiyo on the second floor, and Omron Taiyo Electric on the third floor. There, the companies managed production and operations, while Japan Sun Industries was in charge of healthcare and daily activity support.
- Special vocational training for the disabled: Vocational training designed to help people with disabilities so that they can once again function as productive members of society.
Soichiro Honda visits Honda Sun.
Takeshi Yamashita, First Factory Manager
Takeshi Yamashita, the first factory manager
In April 1982, Takeshi Yamashita was appointed Honda Sun’s first factory manager. Yamashita had been a gymnast during his college years. Once, while he was practicing the rings, he fell and injured his cervical cord. The accident left his arms and legs paralyzed. After difficult, strenuous rehabilitation, Yamashita entered Japan Sun Industries in 1971 as the first employee with severe paralysis. At that time, Japan Sun Industries had the state-of-the-art Tetra Ace housing for people with disabilities, and after serving as a guide there, Yamashita was assigned to management duties at the Tajima Tool Beppu plant. At that time, it was much more difficult for people with serious disabilities to return to society and find employment, but Nakamura, then president of Honda Sun, appointed Yamashita as the factory manager with the idea of showing that people with cervical cord injuries could also manage a factory..
Nakamura always introduced Yamashita with the affectionate comment, “Yamashita injured his neck, losing the use of his arms and legs. Yet, it is he who keeps this factory in order.”
People with relatively minor disabilities had already been working at Omron Taiyo Electric and Sony Taiyo at the time. Honda Sun had a higher rate of associates with serious disabilities. Moreover, the majority of them had work experience relating only to woodworking, so the assembly of motorcycle parts was entirely new to them.
Honda Sun was approved as a special-treatment subsidiary*2 of Honda Motor in May, 1982, and although the domestic economy was unstable due to the sharp appreciation of the yen among other factors, the cooperation of the five founding companies and support from Honda continued, and in addition to motorcycle parts, orders for automobile and power products parts began to come in, and the work volume expanded. Under these circumstances, Yamashita, who had no experience in company management, continued to search for a way to manage the company with great difficulty.
“The purpose of this facility is to provide work opportunities for as many disabled people as possible while maintaining sound company operations. Can we truly achieve this goal if we employ people with serious disabilities? Even if we employ them, can they continue working until the age of sixty? Of course, even if they should work for only five or ten years and decide to leave, I feel it would still be great if they have contributed in some way as associates during those years and become proud of themselves for having done so. Yet, as long as this is a profit-making organization, management must not be blinded by too much compassion, or we will risk the company's future.” (Yamashita)
For Yamashita, the first ten years after the company’s inception represented a period of struggle in which he challenged the immense difficulties of managing people and running a company, and above all the sadness of being treated as special by other Honda associates without being accepted as a colleague. Through this experience, Yamashita learned that, “After all, whether the final product becomes a good one or defective one depends on the person who makes it. So, the improvement of efficiency is possible only when the associates decide to do it themselves. The ultimate objective of company management is to ensure that the associates are happy with their work and their lives.”
Honda Sun, in reflection of Yamashita’s beliefs, has to this day implemented management policies based on the motto, “people above anything else.” Honda Sun’s business grew dramatically as a result of the efforts of Yamashita and the plant’s associates, and by 1991, when the company celebrated its 10th anniversary, the number of associates had increased to 62, including 34 persons with disabilities.
- Special-treatment subsidiary: A company approved as such under the law regulating the promotion of employment for the disabled, established for the purpose of expanding employment opportunities for disabled persons.
Associates have worked hard to uphold the basic philosophy of “people above anything else.”
Creating Job Opportunities, Expanding Business
Honda R&D Sun was established in the Beppu city, Oita Prefecture in July 1992 as a special-treatment subsidiary of Honda R&D. No special-treatment subsidiary of a Japanese research-and-development organization existed at that time, so the establishment of Honda R&D Sun was managed as a project of the entire Honda Group to create a work environment for disabled persons and expand their scope of employment. Following its establishment, Honda R&D Sun functioned as a research branch, conducting CAD (computer-aided design/drafting) and production for the assembly of motorcycle lock sets. When at the CAD operation got on track and Hiji Plant was completed, the lock-set assembly operation was transferred to Honda Sun, and Honda R&D Sun concentrated on CAD operations.
The Hiji Plant completed in 1995. The concept was to create a park plant surrounded by nature.
Universal design was introduced to create an environment where anyone can play an active role.
Universal Design was also applied to work jigs
In May 1995, a joint plant for Honda Sun and Honda R&D Sun was completed in Hiji-machi.
That plant, based on the concept of an “industrial park surrounded by nature,” was situated on a parcel of land covering 43,400 square meters, and was complete with a factory, welfare offices, and residential quarters. Every facility was designed with special consideration for people with disabilities, including those in wheelchairs, so that their mobility would not be limited. Just about every fixture, including power switches, door knobs, and water taps, was designed so that it could be used easily by anyone.
The construction of this new plant and Honda Sun’s 200-person workforce “must further expand our effort to create employment opportunities for people with serious disabilities, so that they can work with motivation and energy, contribute to society and share their joy with others,” which was Yamashita’s dream for more than 10 years. The completion of the new Hiji facility brought in all of Honda R&D Sun’s functions. By then the total number of associates at the Beppu Plant had grown to 100, including those in special vocational training. The Hiji Plant employed an equal number of people, including twenty from Honda R&D Sun. The “plant employing as many as 200 people” that Yamashita had envisioned ten years before had at last become a reality.
In September 1996, Honda Sun celebrated its 15th anniversary. At a commemorative ceremony, Kazuo Hatada, then president, said, “I wish to congratulate the associates for the hard work that has made this day possible. Today is a new start toward the next stage, another step toward the achievement of our goal, by which we will become an even stronger company that can adapt to any change. We shall become a model plant for all the world, where people with disabilities are important members of the workforce.”
Yamashita, then the plant’s executive director, expressed his sense of determination. “We want to show to disabled people around the world that they can work with joy and energy; that they can live fruitful lives, just like us.” He then declared the NSP (New Sun Next Stage Plan), underscoring the commitment of each and every associate to the creation of a company that could adapt to any change the market environment might bring. The NSP principle is also the embodiment of “people, above anything else,” a fundamental ideal in which they share not only their work but their daily and recreational activities.
Independence as Honda Sun and Honda R&D Sun
Worked on obtaining ISO14001 together with Japan Sun Industries
Since then, Honda Sun’s business increased mainly in the motorcycle business and achieved good results through NSP, and in 1998, the company decided it was necessary to further improve quality and obtained ISO (International Organization for Standardization) 9002 certification for its Beppu and Hiji plants, and then ISO 9001 certification in 2003. By fulfilling its responsibilities as an independent company, society would recognize the value of the company and its associates. The company wanted to prove that having a disability had absolutely nothing to do with the quality of its work.
However, the environment surrounding the company changed drastically with the times, and orders for motorcycle products declined year by year as local production and procurement of products for export accelerated. In April 2004, the NSP-II project was launched as a three-year plan to become a company that can respond to the changing times and continue to communicate to society.
In order to ensure stable corporate management and a secure life for its associates, and to further realize its philosophy of “people above anything else,” its associates united under the concept of “a company that society wants to exist.” The pillars of the project were to improve quality and strengthen on-site capabilities, and as a member of the Honda Group, they continued to take on challenges daily, including QC circle activities*3, in order to maintain and evolve the ability of all associates to make improvements and reforms and “make the workplace independent” with the aim of “achieving a new level of outstanding quality.”
In addition, the company had been actively involved in environmental initiatives apart from its normal business operations. In November 2000, the company acquired ISO 14001 certification. As Japan Sun Industries was composed of not only directly managed factories but dormitories, supermarkets, companies, and various other joint entities, requiring a greater effort than for a single entity to acquire certification, the entire Japan Sun Industries Group was successful. With the goals of reducing waste, saving energy, and conserving resources emitted from the factories, food waste from facilities was decomposed and recycled, and returned to the factories’ greeneries and neighboring farmers, contributing to the creation of a forest in the local community. The company also began operating a solar power generation system to reduce CO2 emissions and conserve energy.
- Activities in which small groups of associates voluntarily engage in quality control activities within the same workplace
From Passive to Active:
The Path to Data Business
In August 2008, the Kitsuki molding plant was relocated and the second Hiji plant was completed to consolidate the manufacturing divisions in Hiji. However, the global financial crisis hit at almost the same time, and although the plant was built, there was no work at all, leaving the company scrambling to secure work. With the cooperation of Honda’s purchasing department, the company was able to secure new orders from various manufacturers, but this was a time of great learning.
When visiting parts manufacturers, the presidents of the companies would say, “You should stop asking for work, but say instead ‘If you give us work, this is how much we will do for you.’” This was a suggestion that Honda Sun, as a subsidiary of Honda and a member of the Honda group of companies, should think for themselves what they should do and make their own proposals.
“I thought that if anything went wrong, the people around me would help me, but that was naive,” said Haruyasu Nishida, then Honda Sun president. The global financial crisis led the company to aim to work actively rather than passively. “We were able to increase orders for parts in roughly two years by saying, ‘Let’s fill this factory with work,’” Nishida said. Also, during this period, the company received an order from Honda R&D for powder sintering work for prototypes, which was a stepping stone to the expansion of data operations that would lead to later work.
In data work, even people with limited mobility can operate CAD with training. In addition, Honda’s information network was already connected to Honda R&D Sun, and confidentiality was not an issue, and no new investment was required.
The company expanded its domain by focusing on two areas: “Data work will not disappear in the future,” and “Funds that had been paid to outside sources will remain within the group.”
Second Hiji plant
Full-scale Incorporation of Data Business
Work in the data area steadily expanded, and orders from Honda R&D evolved into highly specialized work. In the area of motorcycle design, work shifted to measuring dimensional data for clay and mock-up models built based on design sketches, adding smoothing, fine-tuning, updating post-test data, and creating styling data for the completed vehicle.
Work in the Data Business building
Both physically challenged and able-bodied people work on the same line at Honda Sun.
As the development of models for the fast-growing ASEAN*4 market increased, a member of Honda Sun was stationed at Motorcycle R&D Center’s Kumamoto office (HGA-K), which was established at the Kumamoto Factory at the time, and began trials of styling data production. As a result, the decision was made that Honda Sun would perform styling data work on motorcycles, which became official in April 2013. The styling data work requires not only operational skills, but also an understanding of what motorcycle styling design is, otherwise the data will not be completed as required. Since the creative element is also important, styling data experts went to Honda Sun to impart the know-how and key elements required. Now, the styling data work can be performed by Honda Sun members alone.
In October 2014, a data business building was completed as a venue for this work. Honda Sun left Japan Sun Industries, where it was established, and consolidated all its operations at the Hiji Plant.
Components assemble by Honda Taiyo are part of a product, and are difficult [to know if it contributed]. Design work, on the other hand, is immediately recognizable when associates see a Honda motorcycle, and this has led to a sense of their pride and joy. “Our associates began saying how happy they were to be able to do work that was central to Honda, with products that are sold worldwide, even though they were in Oita” (Jun Yanada, then president).
As of 2023, the company is able to handle even more highly specialized work, and data operations have grown to the point where they account for one-third of Honda Sun’s sales.
In 2021, Honda Sun celebrated its 40th anniversary. The nature of its work and social conditions had changed dramatically since 1981, when the company was founded, and Soichiro Honda had said, “I don’t know why, but I can’t hold back my tears.” However, some things remain the same, and must remain the same: Honda Sun’s fundamental philosophy of recognizing each other as human beings, regardless of whether they are physically challenged or able-bodied.
“If electric vehicle (EV)-related business flourishes as a trend, it will be necessary to increase operations in the data area. As of 2023, we have about 250 associates, but not all of them are capable of performing data work, so we would like to secure work in the area of electrical systems, which is in demand in manufacturing, regardless of whether it is internal combustion engines or EVs. On the other hand, we also need jobs that people with disabilities can continue to do as they get older. We are thinking of increasing data work while keeping manufacturing jobs that are not too difficult,” said Takashi Sonoda, director as of 2023.
With data processing, the enhancement of design work such as CATIA (high-end 3D CAD) and styling data is one example. In order to expand new business, the Honda Sun Wako branch was established and launched in Honda’s Wako Building in 2023. This was due to the aim of the Honda group as a whole to create a working environment that is inclusive of human diversity and allows people to coexist. If this project went smoothly, it would expand employment opportunities at various business sites of the Honda group.
“It is better to be able to work together onsite, and the Wako building is close to the station, making it easy to commute. We are grateful to hear that ‘Honda Sun is indispensable for styling data work.’ I think we have gone from being treated as guests, to working together as equals. As long as there is a sense that we are doing the work for them or they are doing it for us, we cannot have a relationship as equals. This is something I realized from Honda Sun and Yamashita, the first factory manager. Yamashita did not treat people with disabilities differently, but was strict with them. Many things have changed over the past 40 years, but that is the only thing that must not be changed and must be passed on.” (Sonoda).
When Honda Sun was established, special-treatment subsidiaries were rare. Today, however, there are nearly 600*5 special-treatment subsidiaries. In terms of work responsiveness and capabilities, Honda Sun “has something to be proud of, and we want to keep it that way,” Sonoda says.
- Association of South-East Asian Nations
- 579 companies as of June 1, 2022, according to the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare.
New Challenges with Bottom-up Proposals
Challenges for the future are also underway to maximize human capabilities and potential. One such challenge is the development of a voice recognition system that was later called the Honda Communication Assistance System (Honda CA System).
Honda CA system, which converts voice into text in real time, incorporates Honda‘s internal requirements and is being customized for each business office.
The Honda CA System is a communication tool for the hearing impaired that converts speech into text in real time. The system was originally developed as a tool to enhance communication in QC circle activities, and initially started with the use of commercially available software on a low budget.
“I wanted to do this because I was with a hearing-impaired person at a meeting, and his written communication was so sparse that I felt he could not fully understand the flow and content of what was being said. So, for example, if, ‘What do you think?’ he could not answer as he did not understand where the conversation was headed. I wondered what it would be like if I were in his position,” says Kazuya Maura, in charge of development.
In the QC circle activities, the development team set a target of 80% recognition for speech that could be used as text to some extent, and although they achieved that level independently, it was still incomplete in terms of whether people with hearing disabilities could read and understand the recognized text accurately. With no budget, however, further development would be difficult. In this situation, the team was able to obtain the help of the Honda Research Institute Japan (HRI-JP), a research institute that takes on challenges to solve humanity’s problems through innovative technology. Software was developed jointly with HRI-JP since 2017, including system specification and testing, and verification tests were conducted within Honda Sun. In addition to the improvement of voice recognition, handwritten input was added in consideration of allowing the hearing-impaired to contribute to conversations, and the system was improved as an interactive communication tool until 2020, becoming an indispensable tool within Honda Sun.
“We then started a new project. We thought that there might be many people within the Honda group who have the same communication problems as we do, so we decided to expand the system so that everyone in Honda can use it, and it is now being used on a trial basis at Wako, Asaka-Higashi, and Tochigi offices. We are very pleased with the response we have received, with comments such as, ‘We would be in real trouble without the Honda CA system.’ However, there are still some unknowns when we think about the entire Honda group,” said Maura.
The competition is voice recognition software from major operating system (OS) and software manufacturers. “The Honda CA system is superior in terms of recognition rate, but in terms of usability as a package, it is hard to compete with the major manufacturers,” said Maura. However, if its unique features are developed, it could have great potential.
For example, Honda has its own in-house terminology, and different offices uses a different words, so if a program that recognizes that language can be used, and if a function can be developed and incorporated to convert the system into a sign language avatar for those who use sign language, it should be possible to deepen understanding of people with hearing disabilities. In this way, the ability to develop software that is tailor-made to the organization’s needs is one of the strengths of the Honda CA system.
“We call it a ‘communication barrier-free system.’ Physical barriers can be managed through construction and enough money. However, communication barrier-free is not easy, because it is affected by each person’s ability, knowledge, and sensitivity. But I don’t think we can say, ‘Our company is barrier-free’ until we have done that. I am a Honda Sun associate, so I think this is a meaningful activity in terms of improving Honda Sun’s presence,” said Maura.
Depending on how the system is developed, the Honda CA system has the potential to expand the capabilities and potential of people to the fullest, and this evolved system could make it easier than ever for people with hearing disabilities, as well as the elderly, to engage in monozukuri (the art of making things).
In this way, as a member of the Honda group, Honda Sun's unchanging attitude to take on challenges and its spirit of independence and self-reliance. As an independent company and a place where independent people work, it will continue to change with the new era, while opening up new possibilities for human beings.
