Honda manager tackles new terrain

Chad Hensley didn't build his Honda career on smooth pavement.

His path was on more rugged landscapes — nearly 20 years in the world of all-terrain vehicles and side-by-sides at Honda of South Carolina Manufacturing Inc. in Timmonsville. Hensley, 47, was one of the early hires at the plant, which began production in 1998 and built its 3 millionth ATV this year. He started off in injection and blow molding before working his way up to the corporate services division, where he was responsible for business administration.

But the scenery changed in 2016, from off-roaders to fuel-sippers. After years in powersports, Hensley moved to the Greensburg, Ind., plant to serve as manufacturing leader for the 2019 Honda Insight hybrid, now in its third generation.

It was a rare move for someone at the powersports plant. While workers at auto manufacturing sites move around to different facilities, Hensley said that wasn't the case for the powersports crew in South Carolina because they don't have comparable products to work on elsewhere.

The transition presented a learning curve for Hensley, who had to get acquainted with the differing safety regulations, more complex components, a larger facility and a new team. It wasn't like South Carolina, where he had an established network to call on.

"Coming into a new environment, that was a challenge," Hensley told Automotive News. "Figuring out who I needed to speak to, what I needed to ask in some instances because some of the questions were different. The items I needed to look at were different."

And yet, he said, the core philosophies at the Indiana and South Carolina facilities didn't differ. When it came to training line workers, the approach was similar, just done on a larger scale in Indiana.

Hensley said both sites try to ensure that manufacturing processes don't vary too much from vehicle to vehicle, or generation to generation, so workers can "have that sense of understanding" and "can carry over the skill level that you built with the other products."

Coordination with the Insight's development group in Japan wasn't an issue for Hensley. He learned how to work through that dynamic during his South Carolina years and build relationships — which may mean getting details translated at times. But he said that's just part of learning to work with Honda.

Hensley grew up about 35 miles from Darlington, S.C., which has a NASCAR track, so racing was big. Dirt bikes and ATVs were a way of life for him growing up in a rural area.

But he says he's no less passionate about the Insight. He considers himself a fan of anything with a motor "that you can ride in or ride on."

One difference that Hensley found engrossing was the crash-test protocols. The Insight needed to be run through a stricter range with frontal, offset, side and other collision tests.

"The crash requirements were a lot different as far as the speeds for on-road vehicles and different offsets you have to do," he said. "From the side-by-side and ATVs, you crash six sides and make sure that tie rods and control arms operate appropriately. You have cold weather crashes as well. From the auto side, you've got the dummies they use to gather information from a passenger aspect. You don't have all of that with a side-by-side or ATV."

Now that the Insight has launched, Hensley is heading back to South Carolina — where his wife remained to care for her parents — to work in the quality division there.

One of the biggest lessons he'll take back to the powersports plant is the teamwork he saw in Indiana.

"Making sure all the members of the team understand the direction and making sure everyone is on the same page with what our goals are," he said. "That's something we normally do anyway, but with a larger-scale project like the Insight, it's more important.

"We're dealing with internal customers here at the facility," he said. "We're dealing with the engine plant, transmission plant, design side, sales side. There's a lot of moving parts. [At] a smaller facility, you take for granted that everyone knows what's going on."