Why Hondas Run Great - JIT Manufacturing, 5S Methodology and Kaizen 

As a former Toyota employee I can’t begin to tell you how happy this video made me. The ability to say hey this isn’t working we need to fix it here is my idea and having the problem fixed that day was amazing.

I love the fact that the video itself is an illustration of kaizen. Brilliant.

Man, i must say... 2 things. 1. As a former designer at honda motorcycles, seing the 5S's here got me very nostalgic. Its a thing everywhere in the company, every department. Early in the year we would even apply the 5Ss in our personal spaces, such as tables and working zones to ensure all would be organized in the new year to come. And the 5Ys as well, me and my colleagues even won an internal competition for improvements within the company by finding potential zones that could be reworked. 5Ys really worked. And the other thing i must say: This video cinematography made it a pleasure to watch. Some beautiful shots and nicely framed imaging. Clean frames, pure eye candy for me.

Starting a 50 year old motorcycle without any hiccups is the biggest flex of honda. I am the 3rd owner of a 28 year old xlr200, with love and care (and enough cash) it starts the same like in the video. honda is like the toyota of motorcycles

"Success is 99% failure" - Soichiro Honda

It's a Honda

The long single takes, the videography , the dialogue delivery and the message everything is just top notch.

Explaining Kaizen in a video by applying Kaizen steps in the same video. Simply brilliant!

My dad used to work for the Swiss federal railways as atrain driver / instructor. At some point they wanted to introduce Kaizen, so they sent a bunch of clueless suits to Japan who completely misunderstood how Kaizen works, and then proceeded to tell seasoned veterans how to do their jobs, not having the slightest idea what they were talking about. That said, my dad then wondered what Kaizen really was about, since in a previous job with Subaru, he had seen first hand, how efficient the Japanese solve problems. So he did some research and came to the conclusion, that it was what he and his colleagues were practicing all along. Management just needed a fancy word to legitimize a dictatorship of the clueless.

5S is great when a company actually implements it properly. Unfortunately, most US companies only focus on the cost savings aspect of it and ignore the other principles.

I've been a Honda guy for 50 years. It's just the most reliable and comfortable bike I've ridden. (Nice way to throw your sponsor into the video without messing up the flow. 👋)

I’m really appreciating Ryan’s presentation skills, his ability to memorize and deliver dense scripts in such long takes. Takes a lot of skill and practice. Then applying kaizen to the script and video format was a nice touch. The camera work was also pretty solid, especially hopping in the vehicle seamlessly after the sponsor add, the timing of the script on/off the bike, the coordination and pacing of everything on and off screen. You guys are really elevating the craft of youtube production. Well done! LOL at the Easter egg on the blackboard!

"Flagged RU-vid Terms" at 1:34 😂😂

Fortnine using his sponsor segment to highlight continuous improvement as part of the lesson made my day.

Just rolled 55,000 miles on my 1984 V65. Such a great bike that turned 40 this year.

I worked for Mitsubishi in Australia. When they first the introduced 5S principals it was quite a "culture shock", but, once we were all fully conversant with the concept and its application, it made a big difference to both the smoothness of operations (in a manufacturing setting) and morale in the workplace, which improved considerably. But back to the bikes... a mate of mine had the 400 Four Super Sport back in the day and it was a brilliant piece of work, especially for its small capacity. And was that a 350 Four custom cafe racer I spied? What a gorgeous work of custom art - well done to whoever brought that to life! Cheers from Oz. 👍👍🇦🇺

After the big tsunami earthquake of 2011, the automakers and many other companies revised the 'Just in Time' philosophy to build some amount of inventory of parts to weather a major disruption in the supply. This is why Toyota and Honda managed to keep building cars about a year longer during COVID before running out of parts, compared to their American and European peers who mostly stayed Just in Time.

Every engineer and manufacturing employee needs to watch this! I've never seen Lean, Kaizen, 5Why, and more all summarized so clearly.

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This deserves an award. Great storytelling with a topic that takes thinking about a culture most of us do not have a lot of experience with. I work in software engineering and these principles still apply. I'll be sharing this video around my crew. Incredible work, everyone! You should be very proud of what you pulled off here.

A motorcycle channel, showing us the power of a script. Brilliant!

Adult Saturday morning cartoons, I love it

Honda is in my hert, Honda is in my blood, and ill keep on lovin Honda forever cause these bikes never left me stranded no matter what conditions they had to go through, theyre just hondas, meant not to be top of the performance line, but meant to outlive all of their competetors

I can't think of a channel that uses the yt platform better than F9. In any genre. Truly world class stuff.

Being a chef that's worked in 3 michelin star kitchens, I see so many parallels in how we set up a kitchen line to how they set up a line in the factory. We are always running "just in time" manufacturing of the dishes. The guest comes in, and we make it when they order it. Also, we have "Mise en Place", or "everything in it's place". And, of course, the love the cook puts into the dish, and the discipline to make it that way every time.

A video that in itself demonstrates the exact lesson they were describing in the video, brilliant

My first bike was a ' 94 honda cb750 Nighthawk that was customized by the previous owner (in 2020). Every part they changed I had issues with over the past 2 years, but every original part still works flawlessly till this day. It says a lot about their incredible legacy that almost all Honda engines are known to be unkillable.

As a supply chain master's graduate, you've absolutely nailed it and this could easily be shown in lectures

Mark my words. In 3 years this video is the basic introduction for any support agent or project manager. 👍 Great job!

I used to enjoy Saturday morning Fortnine videos. Now they're getting so good that I'm consumed by a cold feeling of inadequacy by the 5 minute mark, and I spend the rest of the day wondering what I'm doing with my life.

When I worked at Boeing they had implemented a 5S program. Except it was reduced down to "clean your desk up once a week and empty your garbage bin." Which should come as no surprise to anyone reading this comment.

The way you wrote, memorised and shot that section from 4:35 - 8:20 is exceptional. As a viewer, you don’t even realise that you are watching a single shot. Which is all the more of a testament to how seamless it all is. Each video is a development forward from the one before with the bar set higher to see if you can pull it off. Incredible work.

Nice dig at the generic “Narration over a bunch of stock footage” video. We did notice the long one take clips. As always +A for originality and production.

I work for a very large aerospace company and we have been utilizing these production methodologies and quality process improvement schemas for years. They add more value than the time lost implementing them.

I have a few bikes but will never sell the 1975 honda cb400f. Fully restored, built engine, 50 over pistons (videos on my channel). Its such a great little bike!

I've been an (IT) system engineer and engineering manager for 25 years. Deeply ingrained in software engineering, which heavily borrows from this type of process. Software or operations engineers tend to over-complicate things because it's in our genetics. This is the clearest and shortest high-level explanation for an entire discipline I've ever encountered and I might make it mandatory watching for my teams. Excellent work.

Aneesh or whoever was walking backwards (or filming over the shoulder) while negotiating the steps in the garden, much respect to you. Love all the subtle Easter egg details! Keep up the great work guys.

I've had my Honda VTR 1000F 25 years and a few weeks ago with 71,000 miles on it took me back to the Isle of Man for a fantastic 10 days. It performed perfectly and used virtually no oil in the better part of a 1,000 mile round trip. Hondas are the standard others look to.

My 1st bike was this CB400F 1975. Thanks for the memories

Wow, I've been receiving 5s training on and off for over 10 years. I learned more in this 10 min video than I had in the last decade.

Those long takes are masterful. I feel a lesser channel would've gone with the quick images seen at the end as the actual channel, but the entire video just flows so well.

You meet the nicest people with a Honda.

My 1973 K3 750 four is a great, reliable, beautiful and great sounding piece of Honda industrial art.

LoL, what i just saw has exceptionally good directing, editing and script writing skills. Greetings from Greece.

That last bit about authoritarianism, that was good stuff, and a lesson we should all be taking to heart.

i love how fortnine gives us instructive and entertaining videos to watch for free but also push the boudaries of youtube video-making in their style and writing

Those little 400 fours are Sweet machines indeed!

I worked at a European company that claimed to run a 5S system. What they actually did was hide all the clutter in cupboards. It looked good to someone having a quick look round but if you actually worked there you had a terrible job to find anything. They also gave employees little to no storage space, which resulted in useful things being thrown out or stashed in cluttered, shared cupboards. There was an obsession with things like computer cables being run through holes in desks to make it all look good on the surface. This company ended up with some serious quality issues in products which led to recalls, nearly bankrupting the organization. These quality issues happened despite extensive so-called quality procedures and reviews, because there was an obsession with process over substance.

Spot on!!! I work as a process engineer for a Japanese automotive company and every single subject you went over is spot on. You did miss one practice that we use and that’s called “MOST” aka Time and motion study that’s defined as a procedure in which the efficiency of an industrial or other operation is evaluated.

I just wanna say how nice it is to have Aneesh back! Ryan's work has always been thorough, but the return to regular installments of short-film quality is just... *chef's kiss* c'est magnifique!

Just sent the link to my key stakeholder at work. It's the most concise, common sense explanation I've seen of the application of those systems to a physical process. This really helps to explain the service design principles I'm trying to apply our current Logistics project. Much appreciated.

That sponsor segment was the most beautifully integrated thing I've ever seen

Kaizen - The Toyota Production System. I worked at a company in Southern Indiana that invested heavily in the system. Even sent people to Japan to visit Toyota to learn. They would even put office workers on projects in the factory to suggest production improvements and efficiencies.

Japanese manufacturing's quality is incredible. Reliability unmatched anywhere else.

This is great on so many levels: Videography, storytelling (it's like a matrëška!), humour! And I never expected to see a non-café racer black 400F on RU-vid, and then it's on F9, the best motorcycle channel! Love my black 400F, never let me down once.

I have zero knowledge and experience with bikes, as I'm exclusively interested in cars, but I'm also a process engineer and my wife is a manager and we both love this video for reasons totally unrelated to bikes! GREAT JOB

Brilliant video. I trained Japanese nationals how to fly helicopters in the late 80's. My students displayed the excellence of Japanese culture which has a lot to do with the self discipline required to execute the 5 S.

You have somehow made me proud to be an American that purchases and worships Japanese manufactured products. Thank you, F9...

It’s called Lean Manufacturing in some parts of the world. It’s shaped my approach to everything, i haven’t worked in a factory in years but i still use the concepts. Respecting the expertise of each worker is a key one. Thanks for the video.

As a QA professional now with 36 years I worked as a Toyota QA Engineer then went on in other industries.. still working in the manufacturing industry I have applied numerous techniques in different factories. What stands out is the people who you have to work with. Perception and ownership of activities is the most important single aspect that can make a system successful or not ❤ cheers from Oz 🇦🇺

I worked in Aerospace for 15 years. We also practiced 5S. I was part of 3 Kiazan work shops. If implemented correctly, it works great. But more often than not. Management would get in the way, so it was always a half ass attempt.

As a film teacher your videos always make my day

Brilliant editing and storytelling! I sorely miss my CB400F in Varnish Blue. She was a work of art.

This video is one of the best illustration of JIT, Kaizen, 5S etc. I've attended few multi-day "consultant classes" about topic. Still this video shows the point more clear and without clutter as it should. And in ~9min instead of days.

I have a 42 year old Honda 200 twinstar Electric start or kick start. One kick on the kickstarter and ot starts putting away. Makes me smile every time.

I'm currently doing my industrial master craftsman's degree and learning about Kaizen, JIT and that kind of stuff. Nice to have an example which I'm personally interested in as I own two Honda cars and four Honda bikes.

This must have taken so much work. Great job. As a former Honda employee, this really does a great job of concisely summarizing the ongoing Honda philosophy of continuous improvement, which is still one of their core philosophies.

I have a 2023 Honda SCL500 Scrambler and a CMX1100 Rebel, and I fully expect both of them to still be working well into in 2073.

This video is a master piece! You explained within 10min what my teacher in engineering school failed to explain in 3 months!

Great visualization of these concepts. As a Motocompo owner I can say that its one of the most reliable vehicles I have ever owned and it is a 42 year old 2-stroke powered Trunkbike. As far as I know the Engine was never opened. Despite its size its pretty straight forward and fun to wrench on it, so maintenance is a joy.

These one take productions just keep getting better. I like what you did making the video a demonstration of kaizen. Genius. Nice touch with the seiko watch as well Ryan

As someone who works in manufacturing in the usa I cringed hard when i read 5s and kaizen. When my company says that it usually means throwing equipment away because its not used every day but is still used and painting machines instead of fixing them. Then wondering why production isn’t improving.

Visiting a client, a forging co., I noticed baskets of forged motor mount bolts. Some baskets had bolts with plastic covers on the threads. Others were bare. When asked the difference, the owner said the covered bolts were destined to the Honda plant in Maryville and Honda spec'd the covers to prevent threads being damaged in shipment. Damage might make the bolt unusable and more difficult (time consuming) to install.

Nothing else to say other than excellent writing, direction, and production.

At 1:54 Ryan saying "built by 12 guys in a 16m2 workshop" whilst squeezing himself past the camera guy is just the most perfect thing ever

I saw one of those 400 inline 4's in Edmonton last week. Beautiful bike and they won't make them like this again. Brilliant video

I currently consult for a metrology company (instrumentation, not weather) and we're running JIT and Kaizen programs. Never expected this on F9, thank you very much. Also great basic explanation of root cause analysis, which is fundamental to any successful quality process.

I cliked on this ( aside from the obvious desire to watch yet another educational and entertaining Fortnine presentation) as a former business improvement manager (continuous I provement, 5S, etc...) only to be blown away by your choice of example motorycle, the marvellous CB400 Super Sport (my personal favourite from the '70s). Well done sir...

A 3 minute single take on a motorcycle video, and at no moment did I feel bored. That is incredibly impressive video production.

Honda is an engine company first and foremost. They just wrap cars, bikes, lawnmowers, and planes around them. I spent years as a contractor with Honda and was impressed by them. Also the Japanese has several manufacturing and quality from the USA gurus help them rebuild after WWII - Demming and Juran

After seeing the 400F motorcycle, I couldn't pay attention to the rest of your program. It is just too pretty. I cannot commend enough the production value of your videos. They are very well done!

The manufacturing principles shown by FortNine in this great video are why my 14 year old Toyota 4Runner has close to a quarter of a million miles with hardly any problems beyond replacing usual wear items and ordinary maintenance.

As an industrial engineer, and Honda motorcycle owner, this video is just all the stuff I know and love lol

the company I work on is trying to implement JIT and the five S thing, until now I thought it was a dumb idea, but this made me realize how important it is, time to put in the work and improve myself

Just hit 44444.4mi on my 86 honda shadow on monday. Still going strong, at almost 40 years old!

Worked for japanese companies for years... "just in time" only works when there aren't logistic issues and raw materials shortages. Lead to a lot of unnessesary OT with minimal (if any) production since many workers were stuck waiting for parts from outside 3rd parties. It DOES reduce the chance of a company going belly up since they aren't paying for storage space or being stuck with inventory they can't sell, or that has nowhere to ship, but the system doesn't function well when spike demands hit, in which customers are stuck on waitlists. The strength in Japanese engineering and manufacturing doesn't come from 5S, Kaizen, Kanban, or any other "trendy" system that the west keeps importing, but rather in the already imbeded work ethic and culture of the Japanese as a whole. Many American companies struggle to adopt these prenciples because the manage is also self focused, while japanese companies are often quite litterally "for the company" as a whole. Just go to a major Japanese company and watch the technicians doing group warm up exercises and singing the "company song" before a shift. You won't find that in America.

Is this the best RU-vid channel out there? Seamless, interesting, and relevant splicing of sponsors, making a topic I spent 20 yrs dealing with (and frankly hating trying to adapt it to An antiquated N.A. Unionized steel plant) interesting and relevant.

The very last line really brought it all together!

I've ridden several brands and it's on the Honda that you notice the little things that make your life easier. The center stand on my Forza is placed just so that it's easy to put up and roll off. Other brands tend to put the weight too much on either side, either it's difficult to roll onto the stand and easy to roll off or vice versa. I've also ridden a CB125R and CB400 and it's the same on those models as well.

Ryan, this is what I do for a living and this is THE best video explaing Lean Six Sigma discipline, where it started, why and how it is valued. I say this all the time about my 2008 CB1300 that has been defect free over 30,000 miles. I will be sending this link to my colleagues

One of the best YT clips I seen in last months! Great job RyanF9! Play when you learn, learn when you play.

It's fortnine , of course it's going to be good!!

"individual authority is the one thing authoritarians can't copy" - brilliant line

Thanks for making this video! I’m actually having a lot of issues at my current workplace on their processes and standards being so inefficient! Watching this makes me feel better

Loved this one!

Thanks Ryan. Taught me more on the subject than business school.

5S and Kaizen are amazing. JIT, I believe CAN be great in manufacturing areas that are very stable and not prone to disruption, eg local source of materials, very little complexity. But, as we saw during covid, JIT turns in to NIT (not in time) once a supply chain disruption happens. My job was having a year lead time on PLC's required to control machines, we were having trouble purchasing the specialized metal that we need in order for our factory to operate. My company was very fortunate to have good relationships with US based tool makers, which allowed us to get tooling while most of the companies that didn't have pre-existing relationships weren't able to get carbide tooling. Even with our good relationship of US based suppliers, we still had major issues keeping machines running due to parts we needed from south korea, japan, and china.

I work for a Japanese company in the auto industry and this is exactly the standards we follow. I can appreciate this one for sure. Thanks for sharing.

The value of life can be measured by how many times your soul has been deeply stirred. - Soichiro Honda

Feels like you're just showing off now with the no cut takes lol. It's so damn impressive