A: Mike Jett – I’ve been with Honda
for 34 years. Prior to moving to Georgia, I was responsible for strategic
planning for North America. My group was responsible for the feasibility
studies for Alabama and Georgia facilities. However, my background primarily
resided on the manufacturing side. My current role – as VP & Plant Manager
– encompasses total operations here as far as manufacturing, with a focus on
safety, quality and production. As
manager of the entire business of operations at this facility, I drive us
towards the core characteristics which we work toward every day. These
characteristics include building products of outstanding quality, delivering
those to our customers in a way that is safe for our associates and our goal of
being a company that society wants to exist.
Q: What is the most rewarding part of your job?
A: It’s working with the people. The
Honda Precision Parts facility has some of the best associates that I have ever
worked with in my career. I have worked in multiple locations around the
country, as well as in Japan. The associates here are very engaged, they care
about what we do and how our products do in the market. It’s so enjoyable
coming to work every day with a great team. When we are faced with challenges,
they respond. As we have gone through expansion, it has been extremely
encouraging to me how each associate looks at challenges as an opportunity.
Q: What is your long-term vision for the plant –
internally and externally?
A: My vision is to create positive
working environment, so that my associates want to come to work. I know that
sounds a little utopian – keeping our team engaged in what is going on by
having excellent communication, engaging with them on a daily basis to improve
our characteristics here, which opens the door for future opportunity at each
of our facilities. We want to create outstanding products for our customers,
which will also open doors for opportunity.
Q: Since you’ve worked around the world, what
are some benefits of working in Georgia. And, what kind of impact can you make
in the community?
A: I think southern hospitality and
southern culture makes us a little unique. The way I can engage with associates
here in Georgia is more personable and they truly care about what we do here.
As the largest employer in the Haralson County area, it brings a lot of
responsibility as far as doing things with integrity. We want to be an example
to other businesses in the area. We take a lot of pride in what we do. One example
is talking to the associates about the cleanliness of the plant – both inside
and out. First impressions mean everything. We want to keep our facility in top
shape all of the time. We want to be involved with what is going on in the
community. We are the number one corporate sponsor for the Haralson County
Relay for Life. We do other things as well, such as working with the soup
kitchen in Tallapoosa, it’s an opportunity for our associates to give back to
the community. We had four other locations in mind when we selected this sight.
We chose Haralson because we wanted to make a positive impact in this area with
an economic partnership.
Q: How are tools such as YouScience helping
develop the next generation workforce?
A: There have been a lot of
different things tried with regards to workforce development and have yielded
minimal results. When I saw YouScience for the first time, I had this vision in
my mind how we could utilize YouScience to create a pipeline for future
workers. I want every Haralson County student to take the YouScience Profile.
Then, we can choose those that are in line with what we are looking to hire. We
can have mentors from this plant work with students to get them into the plant
to see our operations and get them excited about their future.
Q: What are your interests outside of work?
A: I love to golf and fish. Living
in the south also gives me a lot of opportunities to connect with people. I am outgoing,
so I am actively involved with our local church. Culturally, I love food from
the south. I was extremely impressed to learn that Mac & Cheese is
considered a vegetable down here and that you can order it just about anywhere.
I like to understand what drives people and makes them tick, and people down
here are easy to develop relationships with.
Q: Tell me about your experience in Japan.
A: I was in Japan for two years with
my wife and our two daughters, who were only 1 and 4 years old when we moved
over there. My family is outgoing and we wanted to learn as much about the
culture as we could. We still practice some of those cultures, because of our
respect for the community. We were open to trying different things and we
experienced a lot of different foods. In Japan, women always walk behind the
men and my wife said she was going to create a revolution, because she was not
going to walk behind me. I vividly remember that when we went out with a
Japanese couple, she would walk in front. Also, working in Japan helped me to
understand the Japanese culture and gave me insight to how we could blend the cultures
of Japan and the USA to build a successful business model for companies like
Honda Precision Parts of Georgia.
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