The Three Core Concepts of Japanese Manufacturing Management

Japan ismanufactureThe management aspect has a significant impact on the world, whether it is the United States, Europe, mainland China, or Taiwan, they are all deeply influenced by Japan. There are many manufacturing management methods developed in Japan, such as 5S, quality control circle, QC seven methods, lean production, etc. What are their core concepts? Or, what are the connotations and characteristics of these Japanese style methods?

1、 Employee morale

Although Japanese people rarely discuss employee morale in their explanations of various management methods, a little research shows that the improvements advocated by Japan are based on the company having a good morale foundation. When discussing various methods and tools to improve efficiency and shorten cycles, it is important to note that if employees of a company are willing to work diligently, these methods and tools are hundreds of times more effective. On the other hand, improvement and employee morale complement each other. Every positive improvement is a boost to employee morale and potential.

The two famous quotes from Japanese manufacturing industry, "Creating first creates people" and "Quality begins with education and ends with education," both reflect the importance that Japanese companies place on people. When implementing on-site 5S activities and TPM (Total Productive Maintenance), companies repeatedly emphasize the importance of creating a humanized work environment.

It is precisely because of the emphasis on employee morale that Japan has implemented a management style similar to "family culture", trying not to lay off employees as much as possible and giving them opportunities for gradual growth, reflecting the principle of "management is serious love" and inspiring employees' willingness to continuously improve.

Mr. Wang Yangming said, "The heart is the principle, and the world has things beyond the heart. The principle beyond the heart is the principle.

2、 Improving on-site focus

In general manufacturing enterprises, 70% of personnel work on-site, 70% of costs occur on-site, and 70% of problems occur on-site. Japanese people are obsessed with on-site management, which can be regarded as the most in the world. At the same time, this is in stark contrast to Chinese companies. Chinese companies often believe that on-site management is just scratching the surface and is a waste in itself (many people believe that on-site management cannot directly bring customers). However, the result of this thinking is that many domestic products are well-known internationally for their low prices and low quality.

Why are Japanese people obsessed with the scene and unable to extricate themselves? Are they stupid? For the manufacturing industry, they believe that they should abandon the idea of taking shortcuts and achieving success overnight, and instead operate factories in a down-to-earth and pragmatic manner. The diligent on-site improvement is an internal behavior of the enterprise, but it has a significant impact on the external environment and customers, manifested in providing customers with product quality, responding to customers, and maintaining product price competitiveness without sacrificing quality. For the enterprise itself, good on-site management can improve employee morale and promote the healthy development of the enterprise.

The founder of Lean methodology, Naiichi Ohno, has repeatedly stated that he is a practitioner of the field:

I am a thorough on-site enthusiast. This is because I have grown up through continuous training on the production site since I was young. Now that I am the main person in charge of a company, perhaps I cannot do without the on-site environment.

Instead of pondering in the vice president's office, it's better to go to every corner of the production site to directly obtain first-hand production information and feel direct stimulation

3、 Eliminate waste and standardize

Japanese people believe that waste and efficiency are exactly the two poles of management, eliminating waste means improving efficiency. In a sense, low efficiency is caused by high waste. Daino Naiichi summarized on-site waste as follows: waste from excessive manufacturing, waste from inventory, waste from defective repairs, waste from actions, waste from processing, waste from waiting, and waste from handling.

Although the seven types of waste summarized by Ono may not be equally applicable to Chinese companies, this is because in fact, Chinese companies have even greater waste beyond these seven types of waste. However, the practice of Japanese companies identifying waste and tirelessly eliminating it is worth learning from.

Standardizing and continuously refining improvements not only consolidates the achievements of improvement, but also gives rise to many Japanese management concepts and methods.

It is precisely these three core concepts that have inspired the strong management implementation ability of Japanese people. Some management methods established by Americans are only in the conceptual stage, such as TQM (Total Quality Management), but have truly achieved "landing and blossoming" in Japan, and have brought their effectiveness into play.

Understanding these three core concepts of Japanese manufacturing will be of great benefit to us in learning and applying Japanese style management methods.

Article source: Electronic Enthusiast Network

He Yang/Organizing and recommending