It is the largest facility to manufacture diesel engines for Honda globally
The Tapukara facility is the largest manufacturing facility for manual transmission and biggest exporter for Honda’s manual transmission globally. It’s also Honda’s biggest diesel engine facility across the globe, producing 1.8 lakh engines per annum for both domestic and global markets. They are also planning to manufacture a new 1.6-litre diesel engine soon for export markets. Currently they only produce 1.2-litre petrol, 1.5-litre petrol and 1.5-litre diesel engines.
Now from the press shop, the design of the cars start taking shape. There are a total of 7 press machines including two 1500 ton machines and five 1000 ton. They churn out 1400 car sets a day and one set includes front and rear doors, hood, outer side panels, tail gate, front fenders, trunk lid, front floor and rear floor. Now these components are further sent to weld shops that are 60 percent automated having 97 robots welding the parts together. Some areas require critical welding, which is done manually by the workers. After getting welded together, the white bare body goes through the paint shop that has 20 robots putting multiple layers of paint.
There is a lot of precision and time bound work in the assembly line
The most comprehensive process is now assembling the cars in the assembly line. Fitting electricals, dashboard, seats, aligning steering, upholstery, glass, engine, suspension, brakes, wheels and all the required components of the car. This is the most satisfying process to watch since the workers fit multiple components in a limited time and you see the final product in front of your eyes.
Finally everything is re-checked right from the paint to the electricals and the engine along with suspension components. They also have a small test track inside the facility to make final checks before the car is ready to leave the plant. The Tapukara plant is also quite environment friendly having 50 percent open space, more than 25,000 trees, natural lighting and air circulation fans inside shops, 1200 KW solar power plant, 100 percent recycling of waste water, rain water harvesting. It was quite an experience having a walk through in the state of the art manufacturing facility of Honda.
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