Honda engineer Arturo Valdes was part of a global team that created and launched into production in Georgia the industry’s first 10-speed automatic transmission (10AT) for front-wheel-drive vehicles. The team’s success is the latest story featured in the What Makes a Honda is Who Makes a Honda video series.

“When we formed the 10-speed transmission team, we focused on our next generation of leaders at Honda in Georgia,” said Mike Jett, vice president and plant manager of Honda Precision Parts of Georgia (HPPG). “Fortunately, when we put the organization together, the team was very diverse. I think the fact that we had so many different points of view was part of the success for the 10AT launch.” In addition, the 10AT project was a global effort with associates from HTM, HRA, HGT and Honda Motor.

Introduced to the market in 2017, with the launch of the 2018 Honda Odyssey minivan, the new transmission is also applied to the all-new 2018 Honda Accord, recently named the North America Car of the Year, as well as the 2018 Acura RLX, and it will be applied to additional models in the future.

HPPG was the first Honda plant in the world to produce the new 10-speed automatic transmission, an incredible challenge and important responsibility within Honda’s global manufacturing operations.

“I think one of the most rewarding parts of the launch was seeing all the hard work among team members become a reality,” said Valdes, who served as production project leader for the launch and is now the engineering project leader for all future models. “It was very challenging, but working as a team, we saw our dreams become reality.”