This book explores the superiority of the management systems found in world class Japan manufacturers and the process by which these systems are being imported to the USA. The concept of Japanese manufacturing methods, in particular the system known as "lean production," is transforming American industry. The editors and contributors use the term "Japanese Advanced Manufacturing Systems" to refer to social, organizational, and technological systems used by world class Japanese manufacturers. They look at the system at the factory level, the corporate system level, and at a level outside the corporate system, including consumer markets, the regulatory environment, the technology sector, and the educational system outside the firm. The two industries that are addressed are automobiles and electronics.

This volume explores the wide diversity in the kinds of networks that have been established between firms in Japan and the Pacific Rim. Editor W. Mark Fruin shows how networks in Japan and Korea are more prescribed and standardized than those found in the United States. For example, Toyota's satellite organizational system is more flexible, open-ended, and market-conforming than General Motors divisional organization. But less market-conforming networks can also arise. In China, for example, networks have arisen because of the unpredictable nature of markets. The contributors to this volume utilize new ideas and data to formulate an understanding of the importance of networks to the success of Asian firms. The book's postmodern approach--seeking not a single model but rather a variety of models of equally probable validity--makes it a unique resource for scholars and professionals in the field.

This book describes why, for the past twenty-five years, Japanese productivity has been growing more rapidly than productivity in the U.S. Unlike other books on the subject of the Japanese success in manufacturing, it looks at what actually happens in factories. The author brings his experience of working at the Yanagicho Works of the Toshiba Corporation, in Kawasaki City. Like so many Japanese factories, this one is highly productive, efficient, and flexible. While the factory is ordinary looking on the outside, its workers are anything but ordinary as they constantly strive to improve the way they work and the quality of the products they produce. The key to this is the continuous creation and application of knowledge throughout the factory, from workers on the shop floor, to research and development engineers, to top management. Fruin explains how Japanese culture and religion prepare workers for their role in this process of creating and disseminating knowledge.