Today was an awesome business day in Argentina and we started it off by heading to the Yamaha factory about an hour and a half away from our hotel. It was a later start to the day (10:20 a.m.) so everyone got to sleep in a little later but everyone still looked pretty exhausted at breakfast and on the morning bus ride. We arrived at Yamaha at around noon and headed to the waiting room to check in and were immediately impressed by the bikes out front.
Davis and Dan in matching shirts
After looking at the bikes in the waiting room, we were taken into a conference room to learn about the history of Yamaha. We learned all about Genichi Kawakami, the founder of Yamaha, and how he decided to start selling bikes and also diversify into other product categories including quads, marine products, and spare parts. It was very interesting to see how the business got to where it is today when they had originally started with helicopter propellers. We also learned about the company philosophy which is, "Total honesty toward the customer and making products that hold their own." The philosophy really represents how Kawakami led his company because he always put the customer first and focused on the quality of the products. The history lesson was informative but it was awesome to see the assembly line afterwards.
Finished Yamaha scooters on the assembly line
The plant was huge and it included two assembly lines, finished bikes, and spare parts (both imported and domestic). Srdan told us how different a plant in the United States would be because they would not waste the space on storage like they did here in Argentina. The most amazing part of the tour was how we saw bikes being manufactured right in front of us in only 11 different steps. We saw the workers make multiple bikes and we were in the plant for less than an hour. They are able to make about 160 bikes per day and every one of them is tested at the end of the assembly line which we also got to see. They test everything from tail lights to top speed and it all works even though the bike was only made in the matter of about 30 minutes. Overall, it was an awesome experience and very cool to see the bikes being made in the manufacturing plant right in front of us. Now it's time to stay out late and get up early again; it's all a vicious "cycle".
From left to right: Steve, Ryan, Dustin, Griffin, Dan
Group photo outside of Yamaha
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