Japanese Manufacturing Techniques

Japanese productivity and quality standards have fired the imagination of American managers, but until now there has been little explanation of how to do it -- how to apply Japanese methods at the actual operating level of U.S. manufacturing plants. This book shows you how, exposing otherwise well-informed westernized readers to a new world of management ideas. Author Richard J. Schonberger demonstrates that the Japanese formula for success is based on a number of specific, interrelated techniques -- stunning in their simplicity -- and he shows how these techniques can be put to work in American industries today. Here, in a clear, handbook format, are nine "lessons" for American manufacturers, introducing scores of techniques aimed at simplifying the overly-complex purchasing, inventory, assembly-fine, and quality-control processes of U.S. firms. At the heart of Japanese manufacturing success are two overlapping strategies: "just-in-time" production and "total quality control." Some American manufacturers already know a little about these methods, but Richard Schonberger provides the most comprehensive description of these techniques available: how they developed, how they all fit together, why they are so potent, and how they "snowball" -- unleashing a powerful chain reaction of productivity and quality control improvements each time more simplification is introduced. -- Publisher description.

Based on a bestselling book originally published in Japanese, Manufacturing Technology Transfer: A Japanese Monozukuri View of Needs and Strategies offers time-tested methods and little-known tips for achieving successful transfer of technology along with the skills required to operate that technology. Designed to support a series of lectures on technology transfer within a master’s course on the management of technology, it presents the results of years of research carried out at Hiroshima University. The book delves into the authors’ decades of experience transferring technology between Japan and the rest of the world, particularly to developing countries from where much of the world’s future economic growth is expected. It contains case studies of successful technology transfers from both the ship building and food equipment industries. Its wide-reaching coverage examines methods of skill transfer, production management, and manufacturing company classification. Introducing readers to the engineering activities that occur within the manufacturing industry, the book illustrates the engineering technology activities involved in manufacturing, along with the production management activities required to support them. It also explains how job simulators can help shorten learning times in the manufacturing industry in the same way that flight simulators are used to teach flying skills to pilots. The book outlines a framework for teaching and learning processes that can be visualized in terms of an S-shaped learning curve. It explains how technology transfer overseas should be supported by contractual agreements between the parties concerned. Detailing the legal/contractual responsibilities for all parties involved, it also describes what you should do if problems arise during the transfer. Integrating previously unpublished research results with illustrative case studies, this book is suitable for a wide audience within the manufacturing industry—including manufacturing engineering students in both developed and developing countries, those responsible for the development of manufacturing engineers in industry and elsewhere, and anyone interested in the international activities of Japanese manufacturing companies.

In his best-selling book Japanese Manufacturing Techniques, Richard J. Schonberger revolutionized American manufacturing theory and, more important, practice. In that breakthrough book, he revealed that Japanese manufacturing excellence was not culturally bound. Offering the first demystified explanation of the simple techniques that fueled Japan's industrial success, he demonstrated how the same methods could be put to work as effectively in U.S. plants.

This book provides insights into Japanese production and operations management through the roles and human resource management of Japanese manufacturing engineers and how their roles contribute to efficient manufacturing. The book looks at six industries i.e. automobile, electronics, business machine industries of the parts processing and assembly sector, steel, chemical and pharmaceutical industries of the material processing sector, and 13 Japanese leading multinational companies. It also compares Japanese automotive firms with their German, French, and American counterparts. The analysis reveals that many managers, employees, and scholars underappreciate the roles and contributions of manufacturing engineers in the United States. The book will offer invaluable lessons to management scholars interested in operations management and global supply chains, especially in the context of the Japanese manufacturing industry.

Engineered in Japan presents a unique and comprehensive examination of technology management in the most successful Japanese companies: unique in that all chapters go beyond superficial descriptions of stylized practices to look in depth at particular issues, often contradicting or qualifying the conventional wisdom; comprehensive in that it covers the entire technology life cycle from basic R&D, to development engineering, to manufacturing processes, to learning from the Japanese. Each chapter is based on original research by noted scholars in the field, and identifies technology management practices that have become a major source of competitive advantage for highly successful Japanese companies. Engineered in Japan documents the best practices from such companies as Toyota, Hitachi, Toshiba, and Nippondenso, and discusses how these technology management practices can be usefully adopted in other cultural contexts. Going beyond past observations, the authors all delve below the surface of Japanese management approaches. They look more closely than has been done before at how particular methods are applied, and they identify some new practices that have not yet been highlighted in books on Japanese methods. Presenting recent data that contradict some conventional thinking about U.S.-Japanese differences, they look at old techniques from a new perspective. "U.S. managers can perhaps learn more from the process of creation in Japan and the organizational structures that support innovation," say the editors in their introduction, "than from the particular approaches, tools, and technologies created." A running theme throughout the book is that Japanese managers and engineers tend to think in terms of systems, focusing not just on the parts but on the connections between them. Engineered in Japan is must reading for technology managers and engineers, along with anyone interested in Japanese business, engineering, and management.