Honda ended 2007 with excellent results in its three segments: motorcycles, automobiles and power products. Moto Honda da Amazônia achieved the historic mark of 10 million motorcycles produced and continues to lead the sector. With an increase of 27% compared to 2006, Honda Automóveis do Brasil ended last year with another historic mark: 85,748 units sold, consolidating itself as the fifth largest national car manufacturer, while the Power Products area expanded its market share. In this scenario of growth and to meet the new demands of the brand, Honda has just inaugurated its new headquarters in Morumbi – in the Southern Region of the city of São Paulo, where the administrative and business areas of Honda Automóveis, Moto Honda da Amazonia and Honda Sistemas Financeiros are now located, which were previously located in different regions of the capital. “The new site was created with the aim of centralizing the administration of all Honda operations in South America”, says Carlos R. Katayama, General Manager of Information Technology at Honda South America.
To construct the building’s new network infrastructure, which now supports analog and IP voice communication and the transmission of data and images with high speed and precision on five floors (three floors, mezzanine and ground floor, where the Data Processing Center is located), Honda invested about BRL 1 million. The project took into account important factors of the applied technology, such as transmission speed, safety and availability. “We took advantage of the change in buildings to modernize the company’s network and support the new wireless communication systems, telephony applications, the data center and redundant networks; all operating in a stable manner and meeting the demands of more than 1,000 connected users”, says José Donizete Sabadini, an information technology specialist and one of the main people responsible for the project. Other aspects considered involved the quality of the materials used in the products through to the capacity of yield, flexibility and future growth of cabling solutions, which led the automotive industry to opt for Furukawa technology and the accredited installer TM Solutions was responsible for installing the services.
“Furukawa’s solutions meet all technical requirements and indispensable demands for Honda, including cost-benefit”, comments Marivaldo Costa, TM Solutions’ commercial director. An important advantage of the complex execution project was due to the fulfillment of the agreed upon schedule, thanks to Furukawa’s modern Just in Time logistics system with pre-storage of materials to quickly meet customer demand, which organized a whole process just for the physical move of the units to the new headquarters. Technology and Processes “In all, 5000 network points were installed with Furukawa CAT. 6, which allows the transmission of information up to 1Giga, in addition to optical fibers”, says TM Solutions’ commercial director. To prepare the project, the installer took into account the way in which Honda utilizes its spaces.
“We work on tables without partitions, which allows frequent changes in the physical layout”, observes Sabadini from Honda. “That is why we created a flexible layout, in which the number of network points and the capillarity of the cables were designed and installed in order to ensure mobility and allow access to the network, which is the organization of the physical space and workstations without the need for new investments or renovations”, continues Sabadini, who considers the work a success. “Currently, network management is much easier and communication is stable. The results are extremely positive as we invest in robust and reliable solutions, certified internationally and in compliance with all the standards required by the company”. For the Furukawa integrator, the monitoring of all processes by the manufacturer is an essential factor for such successful results. “From the project planning made on demand for Honda up until the delivery of the work, Furukawa gave us all the assistance and support, performing the inspection at the end that ensures the high standards required by the brand”, concludes Costa. Honda’s current communication network has a 25-year Extended Warranty from Furukawa.
