From: wells@stein.u.washington.edu (Vernon Wells)
Subject: Re: Space program necessary
Organization: University of Washington
Distribution: usa
Date: Wed, 23 Dec 1992 18:52:22 GMT

cdm@pmafire.inel.gov (Dale Cook) writes:

>In article <1992Dec22.190905.13966@kadsma.kodak.com> pajerek@telstar.kodak.com (Don Pajerek) writes:
>>In article <1992Dec22.024947.4840@news.stolaf.edu> kamilewi@lars.acc-admin.stolaf.edu (Alex Kamilewicz) writes:
>>>
>>>It's a well-documented fact that most of Japanese technology originated in 
>>>the U.S.  They just produced it better.
>>>
>>
>>Is that why Japanese companies are now the leading applicants for U.S.
>>patents?
>>
>>Your statement was true at one time, but not anymore. We are being beaten
>>in every phase of the game, from research to development to production.
>>Only in retail distribution are we still better than Japan.
>>

>An interesting footnote:  a colleague of mine was replacing the CPU board
>on our SGI system last night.  He just mentioned to me a few minutes ago
>that there were more chips on the board from US companies than from
>anywhere else.  The fat lady hasn't sung yet.  (Of course, this does
>NOT mean that the chips were *manufactured* in the US).


Another footnote of interest: The Japanese have actually revolutionized
the management and manufacturing industries.  First there was "craft
production", where everything was painstakingly made by hand from individual
smiths/workmen; then there was "mass-production" - which was pioneered and
perfected in the US - in which a single business consolidated all means of
production (eg Andrew Carnegie) and produced products _en masse_ in order
to reduce costs; and now there is "lean production", pioneered in Japan,
and only migrating to the US slowly (it took manufactures a long time to
realize what was going on.).  This system emphasizes all of the advantages
of mass production (eg interchangeable parts, assembly line production),
but did away with its many defects (inflexibility, huge inventories, job
focus, excess management, and poor on-spot quality/defect control.)  
	This change has been seen most dramatically in the auto industry,
and as a matter of fact, the term "lean production" was termed by a group
of MIT and Harvard Business School researchers of the Japanese phenomenon
in this industry (see "The Machine That Changed the World"; it is quite
fascinating, and it is where all of these thoughts come from.)  The
Japanese "Big Three" now produce cars of higher quality and greater
flexibility (they can change car designs in a fraction of the time it
takes other manufactures) with fewer cost than either US or European
manufacturers.  
	This new system once and for all dispels the myth (held by the US
"Big Three" for a VERY long time) that the Japanese were just more
productive because they worked for less and because their government paid
them lots of money.  They are more productive because their SYSTEM is
better.  That is why companies like GM and IBM are suddenly restructuring.
 (Incidentally, that is also why when the GM parts suppliers went on
strike, GM had to stop producing.  In mass production, there can be as
much as a few months of inventory on hand in a factory.  In lean
production, there is typically as little as a few hours.  This increases
the flexibility of the system, but hurts when such crisises develop.) 
Ford, the only US company which didn't expand wildly in the early eighties
when the economy picked up, is also the only US company which has
attempted to completely adopt lean production, and as a result, they are
far ahead of their US competitors in quality and cost control.  (Have you
noticed how many of those plants which were constructed in that boom are
now being dismantled in the recession.  That is a lot of capital down the
tubes...  But Ford is getting closer and closer to the black.)
	Anyway, I could go on and on.  The subject is intensely
fascinating for anybody even remotely interested in business and
economics.  If you want to know more, I would highly recommend the book
(which is also fairly easy reading.  Even blockheads like myself can
understand it :=) )  Thank you for your time and attention.

--Vernon Wells (wells@u.washington.edu)

Newsgroups: talk.politics.misc,alt.rush-limbaugh