Power to the people Honda Power

POWER TO THE PEOPLE

Global automotive brand Honda’s Power Equipment division offers a huge range of engine-fuelled products to its customers worldwide. Emma-Jane Batey spoke to PR and communications manager Lucy Carter to learn more about how the division is growing and investing.

Japanese multinational corporation Honda is primarily known for its manufacture of cars and motorbikes, but its creation and supply of power equipment started way back in 1953 when it began manufacturing small engines specifically for this purpose, using its extensive knowledge of motors. Initially focused on the US market, Honda Power Equipment today has manufactured more than 100 million power products worldwide thanks to its network of state-of-the-art production sites and many thousands of dealers across the world.

Honda Power Equipment’s portfolio is focused on the six core product families of generators, lawn mowers, pumps, snow blowers, tillers and trimmers. Indeed, the division is the world leader in the development of low-emission, fuel-efficient, environmentally-friendly four-stroke engines for use in many power equipment applications such as generators, water pumps and outboard motors.

A global family

Headquartered in Georgia, USA, where it has more than 40 million satisfied customers, Honda Power Equipment is also particularly active across Europe. Its main European manufacturing site is located in Orleans, France, under the name Honda France Manufacturing, and it is here that its products are developed and created for the European market. PR and communications manager Lucy Carter spoke to Industry Europe about Honda Power Equipment in Europe. She said, “The key product groups that we offer from our European site in Orleans include lawn mowers, marine outboards and inflatable boats and industrial and agricultural engines. We have been continually investing in new technologies to ensure that we are able to keep expanding our market share and this is proving to be a successful strategy.”

Honda Power Equipment in Europe’s portfolio provides lawn mowers, ride-on mowers, robotic mowers and hand-held mowers for the Lawn & Garden sector, outboards and inflatable boats for the Marine sectors, tillers and snow throwers for the Agricultural sector and generators, water pumps and power carriers for the Industrial sector. Ms Carter continued, “We are well known for our high quality power generation products and in order to maintain and promote this reputation for excellence our investment in new technologies has already seen a number of innovative products introduced. For example, our Miimo robotic lawnmower uses unique Honda technology and our innovative Snow Thrower is the only hybrid machine available on the market. Our EU70 generator is also the only fuel injection generator on the market and our BF250 Marine engine is the only product of its sort that uses our unique air-intake system.”

Ms Carter is clear that Honda Power Equipment’s focus on development and innovation thanks to heavy investment and a strategic utilisation of its extensive experience is highly necessary in a challenging market. She said, “Given the increasing competition from emerging markets we are well aware that active, dynamic R&D is more important than ever. We are finding that aggressive Chinese copies are increasing so having USPs backed up by an Authorised Dealer Network is essential. Customers know they can trust the Honda brand and it is imperative that we look after that reputation by creating and manufacturing power engine products that excel on quality and performance.”

Good for growth

Annual growth and expansion of market share across Europe is very much the mission of Honda Power Equipment. Already successful in this regard, the company expects to continue this through its focus on innovation and the reliability of its dealer network. Ms

Carter added, “Recent innovative developments such as our Miimo robotic lawnmower have played an important role in our continuing European growth, with our R&D teams working hard to develop robotic technology that truly adds value to our customers in terms of product performance. On-going investment is very much at the heart of this success too so in order to keep growing year on year we will continue to invest in new technologies.”

In terms of European sales, Honda Power Equipment’s main markets are France, Germany and the UK for its Lawn & Garden products, Italy for its Marine products and Norway, Sweden and Switzerland for its snow throwers. Ms Carter explained that customer demand and priorities vary according to geographical regions and, as such, the company’s business development plans reflect changing requirements. She added, “Lawn mowers continue to be our key product in terms of sales as they contribute the most to our turnover, but we are dedicated to providing local products that suit the needs and requirements of our customers across European markets.”

With continued R&D and investment assured, Honda Power Equipment is positive its growth will remain strong year on year. The company expects to venture into new markets as well as growing in its current markets, with mainly organic growth predicted. n

Edel Tamp

Edel Tamp has been part of Honda‘s product development for the last 20 years. Our aim has been to acquire a perfect understanding of Honda’s requirements in terms of product development, offering the right solutions, based on precise results of tests and calculations in our studies and not on extrapolation. Edel Tamp’s ultimate objective is to provide a complete and flawless product and service. Our expertise encompasses every area, from understanding of the product, through validation, development and implementation. On time and within budget. Edel Tamp’s approach to Honda’s projects has been global. Our experience in managing skills and keeping up to date with the latest technologies enables us to respond to Honda’s distinct needs at every stage: development, production and logistics. Our key area of involvement has been Plastics Engineering but we have the possibility of combining this area with Precision Turning, Stamping, Welding, Paintwork-decorating, Assembly, Polyurethane foaming, electronics, aluminum casting. In Honda’s product development, our polymer specification laboratory has offered Honda the possibility to acquire the relevant polymer mix specifically developed for Honda’s products in accordance with product specification. Our laboratory is equipped with Impact test, Tensil stress test, Polymers characterization, Melt flow index test. Expertise and Control: These are two pillars of our engineering consultancy and laboratory, enabling us to maintain a high level of independence and objectivity when studying Honda’s needs in terms of materials characterization at any temperature. All the results of these studies are then integrated into our rheology and structure simulation models. They provide Honda’s designers and product controllers with materials that places Honda’s products amongst the highest ranked in terms of quality and precision. Edel Tamp’s commitment to Honda is constant and we strive to maintain a total quality approach to solutions in all future Honda development and production.