Japanese Contributions to Manufacturing

Initial interest in Japanese management centred on management-employee interaction

Ouchi listed distinguishing features of Japanese organizations
1. Lifetime employment
2. Slow evaluation and promotion
3. Collective Decision Making
4. Collective Responsibility
5. Implicit Control Mechanism
Richard Pascal & Anthony Athos analysed Japansese & American firms based on 7
variables (Japanese better at softer skills)
1. Structure
2. Systems
3. Strategy
4. Staff
5. Subordinate goals
6. Skills
7. Style

Japanese are successful with dealing with people at work

Openness and total employee involvement are important
Lifetime employment plays a large role

Some drawbacks include

Discrimination against women
Background checks on prospective employees
Discouragement of social and religious activities
Just in Time Manufacturing
JIT is a manufacturing system whose goal is to optimize processes and procedures by
continuously pursuing waste reduction

Result of scarcity of resources after World War II

Emphasizes
1. Waste reduction
2. Total quality control
3. Devotion to customer
Requires organizational discipline
Changes to organizational culture
Applies to all functions of a company
Have commitment of time

The Seven Wastes (Shingo)

1. Waste of over production
2. Waste of processing itself
3. Waste of waiting
4. Waste of motion
5. Waste of transportation
6. Waste of making defective products
7. Waste of stock
Value added Manufacturing a method that seeks to eliminate waste in processing. A
process that does not add value to the customer should be eliminated.
Japanese Manufacturing Techniques
1. Produces what the customer desires
2. Produce products only at the rate the customer wants them
3. Produce with perfect quality
4. Produce with 0 unnecessary lead time
5. Produce with no waste of labour, material or equipment
6. Produce by methods that allow people to develop
9 Lessons
Management Technology
1. JIT production
2. Total quality control
3. Behavioural techniques
4. Plant configuration
5. Flexibility
6. Purchasing
7. Self-improvement of work quality
8. Striving for simplicity
Stockless production a system that allows no inventories of raw materials, work in
process or finished goods
Total quality control stressing continuous improvement through attention to
manufacturing detail rather than attainment of a fixed quantitative quality standard.
Four features in organizing for quality
1. Work in process inspection instead of final inspecition
2. Visible control fool proofing, andon, poke yoke
3. Line Stop
4. N-2 technique (first and last piece inspected)

Quality circles a small group of people who frequently meet to resolve company
problems
Fishbone diagram (cause and effect) a schematic diagram of quality problems and their
causes
Quality Loss Function
Developed by Taguchi
Customers suffer economic losses when the purchase an imperfect product
Any deviation from target specification bad as it results in economic losses for the
customer
Taguchi emphasizes quality in 4 other areas
o Product planning
o Product design
o Process design
o Production service after purchase
Repetitive Manufacturing
Pull System products are produces according to a schedule derived from anticipated
product demand.
Push System Products are produces only as they are ordered by customers or to replace
those taken for use (a JIT system)
Flexibility in a pull system is exemplified by U-shaped layouts
Kanban System
A method of controlling materials flow through a JIT manufacturing system by using
cards to authorize a workstation to transfer or produce materials
(1) 2 Card Kanban production and conveyance
(2) Single Card Kanban only conveyance
Strict Controls
No Inventory moved unless authorised by card
Each bin contains exact fixed quantity
Each bin has exactly 1 card
When materials are moved from bin kanban is placed in move card box
All bins at station contain the fixed inventory quantity, the operator stops
production until another kanban card is received.
All bins are located in standard locations

Measuring Kanban
1. Flow through time
2. Work in process inventory levels
Uniform Load Scheduling small quantities of each product are produce each day,
throughout the day
Flexibility the capability of a manufacturing system to successfully adapt to changing
environmental conditions and process requirements
Another form of flexibility is to quickly be able to respond to increase in demand and
ability to quickly develop new products and models to meet cast changes in customer
tastes.
Preautomation an analysis performed before automating a production process to reveal
unnecessary equipment and activities so that they can be eliminated rather than
automated.
Lot size of one ultimate flexibility
Preventative Maintenance Daily check ups and repairs for production equipment
lengthening their useful life well beyond the traditional time frame.