Following a recent restructuring at Honda’s sales and manufacturing divisions in Europe, the carmaker has made changes to the logistics management covering its primary European production plant in the UK and across its outbound logistics for the region.
As of April 1st, Simon Stacy (pictured), previously head of car logistics at Honda Motor Europe, has taken over a purchasing role at the OEM’s plant in Swindon, England that covers both inbound parts and vehicle logistics. Bob Mountain, head of planning across European markets for the carmaker, has added Stacy’s former vehicle logistics responsibilities to his role.
Ray Mayden, who has been manager of logistics strategy at Honda Motor Europe, is leaving the company.
Stacy, who first joined Honda’s power equipment division in 1988 before joining the car division in 2001, took over responsibilities in 2004 for export logistics from Honda’s plants in the UK and Turkey, as well as domestic deliveries for UK dealers, before adding responsibilities for the central storage of vehicles and pan-European contract negotiations across Honda’s European markets.
In the new role, Stacy will move into the purchasing team at the Swindon plant, with specific responsibility for pan-European logistics contracts for both inbound parts and outbound products.
Bob Mountain started with Honda in 1992 with the launch of vehicle assembly in Swindon and has held roles in human resources, vehicle logistics and in vehicle supply and planning. His current responsibilities are for the finished car supply chain, which includes balancing demand for vehicles in Europe, CIS countries and other global markets against European production in the UK and Turkey, as well as plants serving Europe in China, Japan and Mexico. This planning is linked both to supply of vehicles as well as the financial consolidation from European markets for annual budgeting and pricing.
As of April 1st, he adds responsibility for pan-European finished car logistics operations from factory to dealer.
“Last year was a year of significant change in our operations, and 2015 represents an opportunity to maximise the efficiencies from the changes made, and establish a robust and agile constitution working closely with our supply partners,” Mountain told Automotive Logistics. “We are thoroughly looking forward to this new challenge!”
In recent years Honda has made efforts in Europe to improve supply and demand links between its production centres and vehicle markets, projects for which Mountain has played a role. For vehicle logistics under Stacy, the carmaker has also attempted to tender its service on a more centralised, pan-European basis rather than by individual sales markets.
The logistics changes follow restructuring for Honda in Europe, where it has reduced output at its Swindon plant in recent years to 120,000 units following drops in demand from its primary export markets in Europe. Just this week, however, the carmaker announced a £200m ($295m) investment in Swindon to make the plant a global production centre for the next Civic model. While Civic output will increase, CR-V production at Swindon will move to Honda’s plant in Ontario, Canada, from where it will be imported to Europe. Production capacity at Swindon is expected to remain constant at 120,000 units per year.
