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H. Yamashina: Kyoto University, Kyoto, Japan
Introduction
It is Japanese policy to create prosperity through industrialization and there is little doubt that the development of the Japanese economy has been well supported by the growth of manufacturing industry. In Japan it is firmly believed that the prosperity of a nation depends on the excellence of its production capability and that those who conquer manufacturing will eventually conquer technical innovation. It has been the Japanese commitment to continuous technical innovation in manufacturing industry that has allowed it to become a leading economic power. Currently, however, Japanese manufacturing companies are facing very tough competition primarily due to the appreciation of the yen and the dramatic improvements in competitiveness from both the advanced countries and the rapidly growing still-developing countries. The objective of this paper is to provide an insight into the strategies currently being adopted by Japanese manufacturers in an effort to meet the challenge of obtaining world-class manufacturing status to cope with these very serious issues. First, the basic understanding for competitive manufacturing from the viewpoints of organization and human resources are discussed. Second, the strategies used by Japan in the past are considered, combined with a discussion of the strategies being implemented by Japanese manufacturing firms to help maintain and strengthen Japan's competitive edge toward world-class manufacturing. Third, the role of total productive maintenance (TPM) to help reach world-class manufacturing is discussed and the roles of TPM in TQM and JIT are examined. Finally, impacts of TPM on the culture and structure of the organization are discussed and pitfalls of TPM implementation are dealt with.
Organization and human resources
Product technology and process technology
One way of looking at the continuing evolution of the Japanese approach is indeed to consider the techniques that have been adopted in the West - just-in-time production, total quality management, statistical process control, total productive maintenance, etc. They are certainly important, and Japanese firms are continuing to refine and perfect them. But confining the study to the mechanics of production risks discounts the importance of more subtle, long-term factors of organization and human resources in the pattern. In this light, it is more useful to think of the future of competitive manufacturing as human-integrated manufacturing (Yamashina, 1994). To understand what...