Next Generation winner
Award winner Stephen Crossley tells Kris Culmer about his month at Honda PHOTOGR APHY LUC LACEY
Onwards to Honda UK
The Autocar Courland Next Generation Award is intended to give its winner a varied experience of Britain’s automotive industry and that is best typified by the contrast between the first and second work placements of 2017 winner Stephen Crossley.
After his inaugural month at the sole factory of supercar maker Mclaren, in Woking, he travelled 64 miles down the M4 to Honda’s plant in Swindon – one of more than 30 Honda factories worldwide. Mclaren hand-built 3340 supercars in 2017. Honda UK pumped out 166,228 Civics.
“The cultures were certainly different,” says Oxford Brookes University student Stephen. “At Mclaren, I was with engineers, who have a deadline to meet and do what’s necessary to hit that. At Honda, everybody starts at the same time, wears the same uniform and leaves at the same time.”
However, before reaching Swindon, Stephen stopped off at Honda UK’S head office in Bracknell. There, he worked with the team who go to dealerships to check that they’re meeting Honda’s high standards and that they’re able to get the right stock. Then he moved across to customer care. “I was surprised at how much Honda values loyalty,” Stephen says. “If your car is out of warranty but you’ve owned lots of Hondas, they’re often willing to help out.”
Assignment three was with the press relations team, assisting at the hectic Goodwood Festival of Speed. “I spent time with journalists,” says Stephen, “and Nick Robinson from Honda R&D Americas, who was demonstrating an NSX. He’s a vehicle dynamics engineer, focusing on ride and handling. That’s the field I’m interested in, so it was very inspiring to chat to him”.
Soon after came the press launch of the fifth-generation CR-V in Austria. “We looked after journalists and were on hand with facts about the car,” Stephen says.
“It was fascinating to see how things are done. It was a friendlier atmosphere than I expected, while still being professional.”
Next, Stephen found himself at Honda Swindon, an enormous plant that handles global production of the Civic hatchback and Civic Type R and three types of engine.
“I was with the project engineering team,” Stephen says. “They examine issues that arise and determine whether it’s how the car has been built or a design fault. If it’s the former, they work out whether it’s a problem with the factory or the suppliers. They also check with other factories to see if the fault is unique to them. And if it’s the latter, they go back and discuss it with Japan.
“When I was there, they were trying to find out whether an old problem involving a noise from cars’ fuel return pipe at very low temperatures remained. The factory
has a machine that can freeze a car to -30deg C or heat it to 80deg C, so they put it at -5deg C and then listened for this noise on the test track.”
Stephen was incredibly impressed by the intensity of Honda’s product checking – in part due to the fact that his personal car is a Leylandbuilt MG Midget. Part of the process is initial quality study, or IQS. “They take random cars from the production line, inspect them for things like scratches and the harmony between the paint colour on panels, and then drive them on the test track to look for things including wind noise, rattles and loose trim,” Stephen says. “They complement this with a shaker rig, which can simulate real-world tracks.”
There usually isn’t much to worry about. When I quiz an IQS member on the worst thing he has ever seen, it takes him a minute to recall the world-shattering event of a piece of rear-view mirror trim dislodging over pavé. The most recent transgression has been line staff not catching a thread in the Type R’s gearknob, meaning the ball could be unscrewed.
The experience with a mass manufacturer has proved valuable for Stephen. “I got to experience everything Honda does in the UK,” he says, “none of which I’d ever looked into or known about before.
“It was really interesting to see how a car company on such a huge scale functions, from dealing with the customer right back to dealing with parts suppliers.
“It has given me a good perspective. I’ve always wanted to eventually start my own engineering company, so it’s great experience to allow me to understand all the things that need doing.”
I got to experience everything Honda does in the UK