Japanese production techniques

Prasad POLWATTE

Japanese are more productive than others due to the uniqueness of their production techniques. Following are some of the key production concepts that are unique to Japanese (Quality Circles, 5S, Kaizan, Ho-Ren-So, TPS and 4M):

Quality Circle (QC): QC is a voluntary group of floor level employees empowered by the management to identify and implement ways in improving the performance of their area of work. QC is a bottom-up approach on improving quality, productivity, minimizing waste, without incurring additional costs and without major changes in the infrastructure. QCs will enhance teamwork and employee morale. Staff are empowered to make decisions and thereby device their commitment and ownership on their recommendations and desired results.

* Five S (5S): 5S is commonly applied in almost all Japanese Companies/ Organizations and it has helped to bring-up an appealing working environment to staff and customers, improve productivity, reduce waste, reduce inventory, and minimize searching time. A successful implementation of 5S has indirect advantages like disciplining staff by way of their dress code, decent staff behavior, motivation to work, and customer attraction. 5S stand for; Seiri (arranging) – eliminating non-value added arranging time, Seiton (organizing) – eliminating non-value added searching time, Seiso (cleaning), Seiketsu (standardizing) – always follow what is decided/ return what you have borrowed, and Shitsuke (discipline). Japanese companies play a major role in developing people to follow 5S and top management commitment is considered as mandatory and must act as role models. 5S implementation will be in stages such as 2S followed by 4S and finally 5S.

* 2S (Seiri and Seiton): Companies appoint 5S-teams for implementation purpose with 2S, and the team leader monitor the progress for 4 months. A success rate of 80% is considered for 4S implementation from the fifth month.

* 4S (Seri, Seiton, Seiso, Seiketsu): This is also, monitored after several months to proceed to 5S. If the desired results are not achieved then they go back and start from 2S.

* Ho-Ren-So (Reporting- Communicating- Consulting): Ho-Ren-So is used as a mechanism in business communication to identify problems and to take remedial action and thereby to improve productivity/ profitability. Reporting (Ho) has to be done according to the supervisor’s monitoring requirements on work/output; Communicating (Ren) is restricted among colleagues and subordinates after careful attention and determining what others want to know and within a limited time span. Consulting (So) other departments for problem solving purposes and it is an opportunity for self development by borrowing other’s abilities.

* Standardization of material, people and facilities:

* Materials: Just In Time (JIT) inventory management, Kanban – pull system of production,

* People/work management: display boards on control items and control standards

* Facilities: Display of control items and control standards

* Quality Management: Each process must make sure that the required quality is maintained, displays the quantity and type of defects.

Thereafter, management must identify the cause of defects and implement Kaizan to reduce them. Kaizan refers to continuous improvement without investing additional money.

By implementing Kaizan certain companies were able differentiate their products to the extent where the competitors were not able to copy them.

* TPS, TDS, and TMS: Production lines in TOYOTA Company are automated with human intervention, i.e., robots and production workers are involved in the same production line.

TOYOTA Production System (TPS), TOYOTA Development System (TDS), and TOYOTA Marketing System (TMS) are used in TOYOTA Company to identify non-value added processes in the work place.

- TPS: Reduces cost through elimination of waste

- Produce just what you needed, when needed, in the quality needed

- Produce fair quality goods by good ideas at lower cost

- Waste (Muda)- Eliminates excess expenses by eliminating non-value added factors such as: Excessive paper work, customer queues, replacing materials, walk down to pick up parts, changing set up, duplication of work,

* Waste Management: Muda (waste, e.g.: making frequent orders and paying high prices due to ordering small quantities), Mura (inconsistent, e.g.: ad-hoc ordering due to poor planning), Muri (unreasonable, e.g.: excessive stock holdings).

In Japan 99.8% of businesses fall under SME (Small and Medium Enterprises) category (i.e., capital employed is less than 100 million Yen, with employees are less than 300) and these who are the suppliers to the large companies.

However, irrespective of the size almost all Japanese companies adopt the above techniques and have gained competitive advantage. 5S have become a part of Japanese culture.

In Sri Lanka there is much room to raise productivity and growth; the production lines could be streamlined to derive maximum benefits from minimum input. However, we have been discussing 5S and other Japanese concepts for many years and except the apparel industry others have not implemented them properly to derive the desired benefits.

The author of this article was a participant of the AOTS – Japan Scholarship Programme for Corporate Management - 2012. This write-up covers his experience on Japanese Production Techniques adapted in Toyota Motor Company and some other SME (Small and Medium Enterprises) production environments.