Quote:
Originally Posted by FWH
Kgbhoy,
Interesting discussion.
According to info on the web, the base (whatever that is) of the Civic was developed in Japan and the rest in 11 different countries (not specified which). Spreading the R&D over 12 sites can hardly make QA easier. Does Honda (and other mfgs) do this with other cars?
Some problems are clearly poor or marginal design imho.
E.g. fuel filler, HFT.
(I wonder where these particular parts were developed)
Others probably poor selection of sub-suppliers.
(E.g. shocks)
And some in-factory quality problems.
(Incorrect assembly)
With regard to "ground breaking technology" the question is if it is the first time for Honda to use the technology, not if it has been available on the market before. Honda would not be able to access other mfgs IP. Although sourcing from common supplier should help in this area, as sub-systems should be universal in some cases at least. But this gets back to actually talking to your suppliers.
An interesting survey would be:
a) month of purchase (eg Jan 06 or July 07)
b) number of issues (0-999999)
This would show if improvements are being made and if the worst basket cases were all early units. Obviously, the mfg qty for each month would be good to know to put perspective on things in such a survey. |
I agree with you !
Yet a car is more or less an assembly of sub-manufactured parts, for example the air-conditioning and thermal regulation system is made by a Peugeot subsidiary (they are working also for VW BMW and so on...)
Even the car manufactured in japan have problems and even Honda let car with known quality issue out of the factory, Its a manufacturing cost question and a commercial issue. How much are people are willing to pay for a top quality car ? How many unsatisfied customer are we able to accept before reconsidering the quality issue ?