大日本帝國 Dai Nippon Teikoku
[Japan: My first Love... I was a weird 3 year old]
Currently reading:
'Japanese Manufacturing Techniques: Nine Hidden Lessons in Simplicity' by Richard Schonberger (published 1982)
"At the heart of Japanese manufacturing success are two overlapping strategies:
'just-in-time (JIT)' production and 'total quality control (TQC).' [from the jacket cover]
The Genesis of JIT/TQC [Pg. 3]
"With all of the recent journalistic attention given to Japanese industry, most of us know by now that Japan is small, crowded, and resource-poor. Nearly 125 million people inhabit the Japanese islands, whose land mass is about the same as Montana's. Montana is rich in natural resources, however, compared with few natural resources may keep explain Japanese resourcefulness. The Japanese make do with little and avoid waste. The modern Japanese system of factory management- the just-in-time approach, featuring hand-to-mouth management of materials, with total quality control-seems in character with their historical perchant to conserve. To the Japanese factory worker, JIT/TQC objectives seem reasonable, proper, and easy to accept, inasmuch as JIT/TQC attempts to control such costly sources of waste as:
- Idle inventories, which constitute waste of scarce material resources, and, indirectly, energy for basic material conversion and refining.
- Storage of idle inventories, which wastes limited space.
- Defective parts, subassemblies, and final products, which are a waste of materials/energy.
[Toyota: My other love...I was a really weird kid] lol
Japan’s Manufacturing Techniques Taken from: http://asifjmir.wordpress.com/2009/11/15/japan%E2%80%99s-manufacturing-techniques/
Nations are built not with bricks and stones but with the capacity to create and apply knowledge. The result of knowledge creation and application in manufacturing and management practices is well demonstrated by Japan. Today we are witness to many industrialized economies that are strengthening their manufacturing activities simply by adopting these techniques.
The distinguishing characteristics associated with Japanese manufacturing techniques include an emphasis on designing and redesigning processes to optimize efficiency and a strong commitment to quality.
The manufacturing techniques that Japanese companies practice provide a competitive advantage and outstanding economic performance. The key for success is an understanding of the broad context of manufacturing culture, infrastructure and environment. These sound manufacturing and business techniques created and adopted by leading Japanese manufacturers have turned out to be the secret of their market leadership in many industries.
Following are a few of these concepts, which can help in managing any business set-up in a better way:
- Kaizen is one such technique, which in Japanese means ‘improve.’ This is commonly recognized as practices focusing on continuous improvement in manufacturing activities, business activities in general, and even life in general, depending on interpretation and usage. By improving standardized activities and processes, Kaizen helps in eliminating waste.
- Another management Japanese technique is the 5-S. It is a technique used to establish and maintain quality environment in an organization. It has five elements: Seiri (sorting out useful and frequently used materials and tools from unwanted and rarely used things); Seiton (keeping things in the right place systematically so that searching or movement time is minimized); Seiso (keeping everything around you clean and in a neat manner); Seiketsu (standardizing the above principles in everyday life) and Shitsuke (inculcating good habits and practicing them continuously). The 5-S practice helps everyone in the organization to live a better life.
- Kanban and ‘Just in Time’ are two other practices in inventory management practices that were pioneered by the Japanese automobile manufacturers, such as Toyota. Quality improvement, on the other hand, is the result of lower proportion of component scrap since the components spend less time in the supply chain.
- Poka-yoke is a process improvement focused on training of workers for mastering the increasingly complicated tasks to selectively redesign the tasks so they could be more easily and reliably mastered. It involves designing a foolproof process to eliminate the chance of errors.
- Jidoka is a practice by means of which an individual worker runs several machines simultaneously. Japan thus designs such machines that eliminate both error and the need for constant supervision.
- Muda is another technique that reduces wasteful activity in service processes. It ensures process efficiency and effectiveness.
- Mura curiously combines rigidity and flexibility and thus teaches service process improvement.
- Reducing Muri means reducing physical strain. In services process improvement, Muri applies to convoluted and unnecessary routings, physical transfer, and distances paper files may have to travel for a process to complete.
- Genchi Gembutsu means going to the actual scene (genchi) and confirming the actual scene (gembutsu). Observation of service processes at the point where it is actually delivered may unearth a host of problems such as lack of training, unnecessary steps, or a number of other areas that would benefit from small but significant process improvement ideas.
This is a glimpse of manufacturing techniques that Japan has so intellectually created and so profoundly practiced in its manufacturing systems that even with no natural resources, it has acquired the status of one of the most industrialized nations. Can we learn from Japan?
Author: Asif J. Mir - Management Consultant–transforms organizations where people have the freedom to be creative, a place that brings out the best in everybody–an open, fair place where people have a sense that what they do matters. For details please visit www.asifjmir.com, Lectures, Line of Sight
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