HONDA has announced that it will be restarting motorcycle production at its Kumamoto factory as of Monday, March 28th. Initially closing all its facilities in Japan after the devastation caused by the Sendai earthquake, Kumamoto will be one of Honda’s first facilities to re-open in almost two weeks’ time.
While the company’s Sayama, Saitama, and Suzuka facilities will remain closed through April 3rd, Honda will make a decision on when to restart production at those locations as that date becomes closer. Honda will continue to make decisions on its operations from this date forth, keeping a close eye on its supply chain and the good of the country as whole as the situation in Japan continues to change and evolve.
This news means that Honda’s Kumamoto factory will resume production of the VFR1200F, the CBR600RR, the DN-01 motorcycles along with some generators. Meanwhile at the Tochigi Factory, the hardest hit out of all of Honda’s facilities, repairs and inspections have been completed for almost all of the facility’s spaces and equipment.
Research & development operations are expected to return to Tochigi, with the exception of those functions in the automobile product development, development of manufacturing technologies, and procurement, which have been temporarily transfered to Honda operations in other locations such as Sayama, Suzuka, and Wako.