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先要了解基本常识：
1、CG125是中国大陆最流行的车款之一，CGL125俗称“五羊款”。街上的摩托车10辆有8辆就是CG款或CGL款。每个厂商都在仿制。
2、所有的顶杆机或多或少都是仿制CG125的发动机。“CG款”又成了“顶杆机”的行话。而顶杆机占领中国近20年。
3、OHC：置顶凸轮轴，大多数的小链机采用。OHV，置顶阀门，大多数的顶杆机采用。
翻译中....
一、发展中国家摩托车令人震惊的使用状况
20世纪70年代发展中国家的摩托车出口急剧增长，同样伴随着东南亚国家的经济增长。该区域的消费者对能承载多名乘客、超载载货的实用型摩托车有很大需求。
为了满足该区域的需求增长，本田在1968年1月输出了4冲程置顶凸轮轴（小链）CS90型摩托车。其后1969年9月又输出了CB100。另一方面，本田的竞争者们都在出口2冲程100cc的车型。该地区所独有的全世界最缺乏保养条件的情形，使得优势渐渐从本田转到其他制造商。作为回应，本田研发了一款新的OHV顶阀（顶杆）发动机，于1973年3月以S110的名称开始出口。但真正的问题，没有那么容易解决。
1974年5月，为了对真实环境下的现实市场做一次彻底的调研，稻垣刚史（发展中国家新车型的研发负责人）和宫智英之助（车型设计）从羽田国际机场启程。他们花费了一个月来观察泰国、马来西亚、印尼、菲律宾、伊朗、巴基斯坦主要城市的摩托车用户。他们的所见，让他们大吃一惊。
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“经常能看到油箱上坐了一小孩，老婆坐在后面，2到4个人一起骑都很常见。”稻垣回忆道“很多人往摩托车装蔬菜、鸡、猪。我甚至看到用摩托车拖小货板车”
销售商的状况同样也和日本的完全不一样。当时，当地销售商主要负责在摩托车出问题时分解和修理摩托车。当地用户经常在只有车子动不得了才送到销售处。销售商和用户完全没有"常规保养"的观念。
“他们在机油变成油泥后还会继续用”稻垣说：“直到空气滤清器的纸制滤芯变得和尘土组成的土墙一样硬。驱动链条也松到可调的最大限度，而且和链条盒上下撞击。这种例子太多。一个又一个，我们看到了不少在日本看不到的奇观。”
很明显，由于构造复杂，四冲程置顶凸轮轴摩托车不能在发展中国家充分发挥潜能。那里人们在最恶劣的环境下使用摩托车，且销售商无能力提供充分的保养服务。
二、一夜之间画好了发动机创意
之前市场调研后得出结论：本田应该开发一种首重“实用”和“耐用”的摩托车。该车应该具有不需保养、四冲程的发动机设计。
回国后，稻垣和宫智立即向研发中心董事会提交了报告。在听了报告之后，久米是志（前本田社长），当时的研发中心管理主任，对稻垣说“给我拿些三角板、指南针和绘图纸”。
稻垣被这个请求搞糊涂了。但他仍然给久米送去了那些物件然后回了家。一路上，他都好奇而不安地猜想着久米的计划。
“我想起来，当时我太久没有在家吃饭了”他说“久米先生在画一个新的概念发动机。”当晚，稻垣也画出了一个轻重量、OHV、直列、单缸并有一条短顶杆的发动机概念。这想法和他在回国的飞机上所想的同出一辙。第二日早晨，久米拿着他的发动机草图走进了工程设计室。正如稻垣所料，尽管只是手绘的草稿，久米的计划书也上优雅且准确地描绘着一台OHV发动机。稻垣同样也展示了概念图。
“我们在比较各自的创意中学到了很多”稻垣说：“最后，久米先生和气地讲：‘你的轻量级、短顶杆设计很有趣’，然后我的设计被选用了”
三、为发展中国家发明一款实用摩托车
发动机的基本设计概念确立之后，1974年3月，开发团队得到了实现项目的真正任命。挑战专为发展中国家开发一种可能廉价大规模组装生产的车型。项目得到了一年的完全研发时间。而且，必须满足几个条件，其中如下：
1、该摩托车必须具有一台油耗优秀的、极端耐用的、四冲程OHV顶阀发动机，
2、排气量需要有2个级别——110cc和125cc，并使用直列气缸。
3、外形设计必须有运动感和有趣。
4、设计上必须强调“实用、日用、易保养”这些关键特性。
“我选择了直列OHV发动机，因为想要完全颠覆S110车造成的影响”稻垣回忆说。“虽然我想要重塑本田是造运动跑车的形象。但当时，能购买摩托车只是发展中国家绝大多数人的一个梦想。普通居民的一种身份象征。摩托车还是一种在存够钱之后才能购买的贵重财产。所以车必须能用很久才行。”
OHV发动机采用轻重量、短顶杆，具有高性能、易保养特性，成功地解决了耐用性的问题。而且用与OHC发动机共享生产线提高了生产效率。
项目研发了2种类型的车架和车体：一种用于熊本制作所来大规模制造的钢板冲压型。另一种适合各国组装生产的钢管型。钢管型不需要巨大且昂贵的冲压塑模，以最小的投资提高了产能。从而符合海外工厂发展的黄金法则——日本成语“产小育大”。车架也为能承受2-4人的过载驾驶环境进行了相当的改进。
两种油箱被研发出来。油箱都具有采用平坦的顶部使小孩能坐在上面。为确保在各国的成功销售，前一阶段又计划了多种的颜色和贴花。而且，同时开发了双种座垫设计：一种能让多名乘员乘骑的长座垫；另一种是坐垫加上一个能承受一定程度超载的货架。
空气滤清部分被改成可清洗的海绵，能被反复清洗。该设计展现了本土的第一个双清洁单元设计：外缸具有一个大筛网作为主滤芯，同时内缸可以完全过滤超过20微米的杂质。小于20微米的杂质也可被机油清洗掉。发动机的寿命和耐用性能被显著地延长和提高。
机械设计、配置和制造技术上的其他创新也整合到这款新车中，实现了低保养、耐用、生产简单。让发展中国家的人民能简单操作和轻松拥有也是考虑的重点。
四 满足发展地区的各种期待
Development was, thus, complete, and the motorcycle went on to a favorable reception among the representatives of several developing countries who attended the December 1974 S•E•D meeting and test ride in Thailand. The following day, Honda officials demonstrated the motorcycle's easy maintenance and assembly at a dealership, where local mechanics were asked to disassemble, reassemble, and inspect the motorcycle without the benefit of prior instruction. The results were incredible. Within a mere 20 minutes, they were able to reassemble the portion of the engine above the cylinder, including the new OHV mechanism. The engine started on their very first attempt!
The test ride was conducted using a measuring device that had been brought from Japan to Thailand. High-speed driving in the intense summer heat, along with high temperature testing, were conducted on the Asia Highway, which was nearly complete. Driving overloaded in Bangkok, conducting "knocking tests" using local gasoline, riding under intense heat and amid thick, choking clouds of dust were all part of the process. Said Inagaki, "test rides of every imaginable situation were done repeatedly, and soon we were confident that this motorcycle would meet the demands of the region."
The CG110 and 125 were now ready for their first destination: the Thai market debut of March 1975.
From Belgium to Brazil
Kensuke Fukatsu, then section manager of the No. 2 Business Affairs Section, the KD Technology Office, had just returned to Japan from his stint working at Belgium Honda in March 1974, when he was promptly assigned the task of building a motorcycle factory in Brazil.
"The personal belongings we had sent from Belgium had not yet arrived in Japan," remembered Fukatsu, "when I was told by Hiroshi Suzuki, the head of the Technology Office (later the president of Brazil Honda), to go to Brazil immediately."
According to Koichiro Yoshizawa, head of the Foreign Affairs Division, "The Brazilian economy had been on a real growth trend since the second half of the 1960s throughout the '70s. People spoke of Brazil as a 'shining star' among the world's developing countries. Furthermore, a colleague stationed there had submitted his opinion that there was great potential for future growth in Brazil's motorcycle market. That's why we wanted to build a production base in Brazil to meet the future demand throughout Central and South America, regardless of whatever challenges it might have meant."
Honda had considered expanding its production bases overseas during the early 1970s. By 1974, when Fukatsu returned to Japan from Belgium, a full-scale operation to realize the Honda policy of "producing products in the markets where they are sold" had been implemented, the initial task of which was to identify potential markets. Therefore, in addition to the work on behalf of Brazil, many other projects were launched, such as those destined for Italy, Iran, and Nigeria.
Honda officially started its Brazilian operations in November 1971, when Honda Motor Do Brazil was established, importing and selling motorcycles under the management of Osamu Iida. Fearing that the Brazilian government might impose a ban on imports of completed motorcycles due to a lack of foreign currency, Iida had wanted to build a motorcycle manufacturing plant in that country. Therefore, with the approval of Executive Vice President Kihachiro Kawashima and Yoshizawa, he obtained a 1,487,700 square-meter plot of land for $1 million in the suburban São Paulo district of Sumare.
The launch of the Brazil Factory Construction Project in April 1974 meant that Fukatsu, the project's director, would make repeated trips between S?o Paulo and Tokyo. Recalled Yoshizawa of the factory's construction, "Having learned from the bitter experience in Belgium, I asked Mr. Fukatsu and others to start by building a small factory."
Iida and Fukatsu negotiated with the Brazilian government to build a factory on their land in Sumare. However, strict conditions were then imposed in all areas, including the percentage of parts that had to be obtained locally and the investment amount. Because the area was already designated as industrial, new competition was not being welcomed. Therefore, ultimately, they had no choice but to give up, abandoning their Sumare Factory project at the beginning of 1975.
Ironically, more than twenty years later, in September 1997, Honda established an auto production factory which was completed on the Sumare site by reinvesting the profits gained locally in the motorcycle business. With that, the new auto factory began producing the Honda Civic.
The Decision to Build in Manaus
During the initial Sumare project effort, a series of strong suggestions by Mr. Natan, president of Moto Importadora, the importer of Honda products in the city of Manaus, urged Iida to build a factory in this northwestern Brazilian city. Because Mr. Natan was so persistent, Iida and Fukatsu finally gave in and visited Manaus early in 1975. Once there, they were greeted by Mr. Natan's enthusiastic, persuasive talk and a strong request from Mr. Canpeiro, head of the Manaus Free Trade Port Management Agency, who said, "We would like to industrialize this region. Therefore, we wish to extend a warm welcome to Honda if you would join us here."
Because Manaus was a free-trade port, upon their arrival Fukatsu and Iida learned that to build a new factory there would allow them the privilege of paying no business taxes for a period of ten years. Moreover, the steps required to reach the percentage of local content were much more relaxed than in São Paulo.
"The tax privilege," said Fukatsu, "was more than enough to offset the disadvantage of distributing parts and completed vehicles between São Paulo and Manaus. Additionally, from the standpoint of local-content percentage it meant only a small initial investment. This was very much in keeping with Honda's policy of 'bearing a small child and raising it to be a big grown up.' "
Iida had made up his mind to build a factory at Manaus. Therefore, in order to obtain the approval of the Board of Directors, Fukatsu went back to Tokyo. Later, following an exhaustive feasibility study and approval from the Board of Senior Managing Directors, an application for construction was submitted to the Brazilian government. Although the expected period of Presidential approval was at least a month, the plan was approved in a very short time due to a strong push from Natan and Canpeiro.
"These two believed their dream of developing Manaus would finally come true, thanks to the cooperation of Honda," Fukatsu recalled. "I heard they even went to the trouble of traveling to the Presidential Office in Brasilia on our behalf."
Factory construction began immediately upon receipt of official approval in September 1975.
The First Factory Manager-34 Years Old
The Brazilian motorcycle company and plant started as Moto Honda da Amazonia (HDA), a joint venture with 60 percent Honda Motor investment and 40 percent from Moto Importadora. Kazuhira Kato, who was to serve as the factory's first manager, was just 34 years of age. Most of the dozen or so employees from Japan were young as well, and many were still in their 20s. Nevertheless, they struggled under the burning sun alongside local construction workers. Outfitting the factory without the help of forklifts or cranes was made possible only with the help and advice of the locals themselves. Because many locally hired associates could barely write their own names, Kato gave instructions that all charts depicting standards of operation should be made using pictures.
Brazil was at that time a local producer and seller of Volkswagen Beetles, in a market that had grown through the development of an expressway network in the city of São Paulo. To meet the conditions of mixed traffic-and to satisfy local preferences in motorcycles-the CG125, which had just gone on sale in developing countries such as Southeast Asia, was selected for production at HDA. Therefore, in October 1976, HDA began large-scale production of the CG125.
The combination of hardworking young Japanese employees and aspiring local associates resulted in effective teamwork. As part of that process, Honda's principle of "focusing on real-world, on-site operations, while facing up to the challenges inherent in reaching a goal" was disseminated among all personnel.
"Mr. Kato and others, who made up the first team of Japanese workers at HDA, went through some extreme hardships," Fukatsu remembered. "Nevertheless, they built a solid foundation for the growth of HDA." The Manaus Factory is special, since it produces a high percentage of its own parts.
"Parts manufacturers in Brazil were oriented toward car production," said Katsuhiro Aizawa, the second director at Honda's Brazilian R&D Center. "Their production plants were also concentrated in São Paulo. In Manaus, we had a geographical disadvantage of being about 4,500 kilometers away. That's why in Manaus we promoted the in-house production of parts, even those not made by our Kumamoto Factory. We did it with the help of many parts makers with whom we had good business relationships."
The Brazilian R&D Center greatly improved the process of meeting the local-content stipulation. It did so by drawing up plans for the CG125 that directly reflected makers' demands that it be built using local supplies. The R&D Center was also a significant contributor to other accomplishments, including the development of alcohol-fueled vehicles unique to Brazil.
[ Last edited by imkow on 2010-4-16 at 04:32 ] |
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发表于 广东省 2009-6-28 14:33
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