7 ms·

Engineers Rule: Honda and its culture of engineering

49 points by tc 18y ago

sown 18y ago
i wanna work at honda :(
- gaius 18y ago
  Honda have a series of TV ads (here in the UK anyway) that don't seem to be about any one particular product. There's a chap with a moustache who sings to dream, an impossible dream (don't know the actual name of the song) while operating various Honda technologies, motorbikes to hot air balloons. They seem to be investing considerably in getting the message out that they are a company where good people can do great stuff, rather than just selling things.
  - albertcardona 18y ago
    There is a short SciFi story from Asimov on the difficulties to get young, brilliant people to work for large engineering companies. The wind up exploiting a mishap with a robot to make the whole business sound dangerous and thus challenging, attractive. Honda, though, seems to be building trademark.
  - aditya 18y ago
    This is my favorite Honda ad of all time. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g2VCfOC69jc http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g2VCfOC69jc Lots of neat innovative processes/thinking coming out of Japanese carmakers, I wonder how GM, etc. went down the unproductivity path...
nazgulnarsil 18y ago
it sounds like hyperbole, but I honestly believe there are two types of people in this world. engineers and everyone else. a smart country would put the engineers in charge and reap the windfall of profits.
- ntoshev 18y ago
  A smart country? It is better to think smaller here: put yourself (and possibly other engineers) in charge and reap the windfall of profits. I am. Well, still working on that "windfall of profits" part. ;)
- scott_s 18y ago
  Where do the scientists fit in?
- elecengin 18y ago
  I think I agree with your sentiment, but the mindset can be dangerous. Engineering - if viewed most generally - is simply a pragmatic way of looking at the world, with an eye for improvement. If you use this broad definition, I think there are people who are try to create actionable change, and others who simply are greedy or uninterested. Its dangerous though to put yourself on a pedestal (I assume you are an engineer)... I have I heard the same comment said about entrepreneurs, and my stomach turns a little from hubris...
  - gaius 18y ago
    There is a sort of government like that, it's called technocracy, "scientific government". That is where bureacracy comes from, you know, nowadays it's a term of contempt but once, it was the pinnacle of scientific management and government. The EU is a good example of a technocracy, while there is an elected component, all the real power is in the hands of appointed officials. China is another technocracy. Judge for yourself how well that works.
    - nazgulnarsil 18y ago
      if technocracy was the same as bureaucracy there wouldn't be separate names for it.
      - gaius 18y ago
        Bureaucracy is the mechanism. Technocracy is belief in government by the bureaucratic class.
fbbwsa 18y ago
allowing smart people creative freedom seems to solve so many problems that it blows my mind its not more common. as far as i can tell, thats the thesis behind google's 20% time. i think its even cooler that Honda encourages this behavior and that system is so intrinsic to their culture that they don't even use it as a major selling point to potential employees. just business as usual. innovation seems to be so rarely rewarded in stiff corporate environments and thats a damn shame.
- krschultz 18y ago
  It just requires good engineers, and there is a distribution in the quality of engineers just like every other profession.
msluyter 18y ago
The "HP Way" used to be somewhat like this, didn't it?
kingkongrevenge 18y ago
This ignores the possibility that GM and Ford management have been perfectly rational in opting not to make major capital investments in their auto lines. The finance guys made A LOT of money at GM with GMAC and several big non-auto deals. It's perhaps a bit naive to spin this tale where GM would be doing very well if only they had been obsessive about engineering. http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122669746125629365.html http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122669746125629365.html GM and Ford's apparent neglect of their US car lines makes perfect sense if you come to the conclusion that there's massive global overcapacity in car manufacturing and the unionized US workforce could never compete anyway. It's early yet to say Honda will even be a winner in the next 10 years. Every two bit country in the world is subsidizing a domestic car industry. My wild guess is it will be close to impossible to make decent profits and smart management would exit the business. DIGITAL was another company known for technical prowess and a focus on engineering. They got eaten for lunch by the wheeler-dealers.
- Retric 18y ago
  Honda makes money building cars in the US. Industry's with large upfront capital outlays tend to have a fairly constant and positive ROI for the most efficient participants. Because people don't spend a billion+ to enter the market if the odds of a positive ROI are poor.
- rogersm 18y ago
  I completely agree with you, the financial guys make a lot of money. And because of that, the core business of GM should be financial and no automotive. So, let's make them sell the automotive part and buy Japanese, German and Korean cars. They know how to make cars.
ars 18y ago
"Engineers have built a contraption of water heater size that strips hydrogen out of natural gas while burning the carbon to provide heat for the home." Ok, now that's just silly. Why not just burn the methane directly in the car and skip the multiple steps? Hydrogen is a terrible choice as a fuel, it's very hard to store, and has a poor energy to volume ratio. I should point out they did also create a methane car, and solar electrolysis, so I'm not really complaining about them.

49 points by tc 18y ago

sown 18y ago

i wanna work at honda :(

gaius 18y ago
Honda have a series of TV ads (here in the UK anyway) that don't seem to be about any one particular product. There's a chap with a moustache who sings to dream, an impossible dream (don't know the actual name of the song) while operating various Honda technologies, motorbikes to hot air balloons. They seem to be investing considerably in getting the message out that they are a company where good people can do great stuff, rather than just selling things.
- albertcardona 18y ago
  There is a short SciFi story from Asimov on the difficulties to get young, brilliant people to work for large engineering companies. The wind up exploiting a mishap with a robot to make the whole business sound dangerous and thus challenging, attractive. Honda, though, seems to be building trademark.
- aditya 18y ago
  This is my favorite Honda ad of all time. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g2VCfOC69jc http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g2VCfOC69jc Lots of neat innovative processes/thinking coming out of Japanese carmakers, I wonder how GM, etc. went down the unproductivity path...

nazgulnarsil 18y ago

it sounds like hyperbole, but I honestly believe there are two types of people in this world. engineers and everyone else. a smart country would put the engineers in charge and reap the windfall of profits.

ntoshev 18y ago
A smart country? It is better to think smaller here: put yourself (and possibly other engineers) in charge and reap the windfall of profits. I am. Well, still working on that "windfall of profits" part. ;)
scott_s 18y ago
Where do the scientists fit in?
elecengin 18y ago
I think I agree with your sentiment, but the mindset can be dangerous. Engineering - if viewed most generally - is simply a pragmatic way of looking at the world, with an eye for improvement. If you use this broad definition, I think there are people who are try to create actionable change, and others who simply are greedy or uninterested. Its dangerous though to put yourself on a pedestal (I assume you are an engineer)... I have I heard the same comment said about entrepreneurs, and my stomach turns a little from hubris...
- gaius 18y ago
  There is a sort of government like that, it's called technocracy, "scientific government". That is where bureacracy comes from, you know, nowadays it's a term of contempt but once, it was the pinnacle of scientific management and government. The EU is a good example of a technocracy, while there is an elected component, all the real power is in the hands of appointed officials. China is another technocracy. Judge for yourself how well that works.
  - nazgulnarsil 18y ago
    if technocracy was the same as bureaucracy there wouldn't be separate names for it.
    - gaius 18y ago
      Bureaucracy is the mechanism. Technocracy is belief in government by the bureaucratic class.

fbbwsa 18y ago

allowing smart people creative freedom seems to solve so many problems that it blows my mind its not more common. as far as i can tell, thats the thesis behind google's 20% time. i think its even cooler that Honda encourages this behavior and that system is so intrinsic to their culture that they don't even use it as a major selling point to potential employees. just business as usual. innovation seems to be so rarely rewarded in stiff corporate environments and thats a damn shame.

krschultz 18y ago
It just requires good engineers, and there is a distribution in the quality of engineers just like every other profession.

msluyter 18y ago

The "HP Way" used to be somewhat like this, didn't it?

kingkongrevenge 18y ago

This ignores the possibility that GM and Ford management have been perfectly rational in opting not to make major capital investments in their auto lines. The finance guys made A LOT of money at GM with GMAC and several big non-auto deals. It's perhaps a bit naive to spin this tale where GM would be doing very well if only they had been obsessive about engineering. http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122669746125629365.html http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122669746125629365.html GM and Ford's apparent neglect of their US car lines makes perfect sense if you come to the conclusion that there's massive global overcapacity in car manufacturing and the unionized US workforce could never compete anyway. It's early yet to say Honda will even be a winner in the next 10 years. Every two bit country in the world is subsidizing a domestic car industry. My wild guess is it will be close to impossible to make decent profits and smart management would exit the business. DIGITAL was another company known for technical prowess and a focus on engineering. They got eaten for lunch by the wheeler-dealers.

Retric 18y ago
Honda makes money building cars in the US. Industry's with large upfront capital outlays tend to have a fairly constant and positive ROI for the most efficient participants. Because people don't spend a billion+ to enter the market if the odds of a positive ROI are poor.
rogersm 18y ago
I completely agree with you, the financial guys make a lot of money. And because of that, the core business of GM should be financial and no automotive. So, let's make them sell the automotive part and buy Japanese, German and Korean cars. They know how to make cars.

ars 18y ago

"Engineers have built a contraption of water heater size that strips hydrogen out of natural gas while burning the carbon to provide heat for the home." Ok, now that's just silly. Why not just burn the methane directly in the car and skip the multiple steps? Hydrogen is a terrible choice as a fuel, it's very hard to store, and has a poor energy to volume ratio. I should point out they did also create a methane car, and solar electrolysis, so I'm not really complaining about them.