08 Production and Technology
01 Organization and management of production division
01 Characteristic of production division
01 Characteristic of production division
01 What is the characteristic property of your production division? Dose it appear in theorganization and department composition?
Y After checking the type of production(order production type, forecasting production
type, various type of products with small quantity, reasonable kinds and quantity,
both in‑house and outdoor production), please identify if the characteristic of the
production division appears in its organization.
N There must be an organization to make people work vividly throughout the suppliersand distributors as well as in‑house organizations.
02 Organization of production division
01 Organization of production division
01 Is the chart of your organization, which is neat and systematic, displayed in thefactory?
Y Check that the organization chart is visibly displayed together with various workshop
information on the notice board.
N The workshop information, by which every worker can clearly recognize his positionin the factory, is valuable.
03 Flexibility of production capability
01 Flexibility of production capability
01Restraining the inventory assets to the minimum, do you secure and improve yourproduction flexibility to cope with the market requirements?
Y Confirm that the factory is endeavoring not only standardization of materials andparts, and simplification of manufacturing process, but also diversification of final
assembly lines flexibly to cope with various customer needs.
N Flexible and elastic production system means the production process under visible
management which enables high productivity, single set‑up change, short material
handling flow, and well synchronized line balance.
04 Duties of factory operation manager
01 Duties of factory operation manager
01 Is the factory manager's job and responsibility well defined?
Y Check whether his job and responsibility described clearly not only as a person in
charge of whole factory operation but as a man to have relations with environment,neighboring society, and suppliers.
N Recommend to describe the duty, responsibility and authority in written form.
02 Is the factory manager participating in corporate level management policy making
and decision planning?
Y Confirm that the corporate level management policy and target are well reflected in
his factory s policy and target.
N The headquarter staff are so remote from the factories that they are apt to pay little
attention to environment, neighboring society and suppliers.
03 Is the factory manager capable in management?
Y Ask them what are his excellent points?
N What are his insufficient points to be improved?
04 Is the factory manager trying to improve his management ability?
Y A factory manager is required to be able to overview his factory from the view pointof the whole enterprise.
N In order to improve his insufficient points, there are two ways, by self‑endeavor andthrough corporate prepared curriculum.
05 Is there any job where management improvement hasn’t promoted, by leaving theworkers as they like?
Y We are afraid that the job needs a helper to assist the manager, as it becomes a bottle
neck of improvement.

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N Please illustrate the recent case of improvement which was initiated by the manager
and which seems to be the most important and effective case among whole improvements.
05 Management of meetings and committees.
01 Management of meetings and committees
01 Are meeting and committee systems enacted and managed adequately?
Y Check the recent cases whose contents are adequate and operated based on PDCA (plan,do, check, action).
N Pick up a case whose issue is better to be adopted and decided through a meeting.
It is the worst case that no one is active in the proposed issue.
02 The name, participating members, objectives, date, time and frequency of meetingare made clear, and minutes of the meeting are distributed soon?
Y Confirm that the meeting is held efficiently.
N Recommend to take alessonto operate a meeting efficiently and effectively.

02 Improving management style
01 Factory policy
01 Factory policy
01 Does the factory manager indicate the policy and target for the year concretely andclearly, and make it understand fully to the employees and the cooperating
subcontractors?
Y Confirm that the factory manager s policy and target of the year is well reflectedboth in production section and cooperating subcontractors.
N Without making the policy fully understand among the people concerned, it is impossible
for the factory to take unanimous activities (in case of emergency, for example).
02 Factory management plan
01 Factory management plan
01 Is the factory management plan made with high motivation, based on the consistency
between the actual market conditions and the factory important policy, and is it
actively promoted?
Y Confirm that the plan is more emphasizing factory value added and profit rather thanquantity output.
N Recommend to start reducing product inventory, process inventory and defects withcareful attention.
03 Practicing management style improvement
01 Practicing management style improvement
01 Do you practice management style improvement?
Y Confirm what kind of arrangements are employed, for example the personnel reinforcement
and fostering, equipment modernization, saving labor, strengthening research anddevelopment, improvement of control system, and so on
N Decide what is the most important and effective to do. And then actually work on it.
02 To increase profit, have you ever executed any structure-building of factory
management and the effort of employee education?
Y Explain the effect of the structure‑building concretely.
N Try education for factory managers. Why not consulting with the professionals.

03 Production planning
01 Actual conditions of production planning
01 Actual conditions of production planning
01 Is the production planning being carried out with good balance of the long, medium andshort schedule?
Y Confirm that the way of good communication with material department, purchasedepartment, distribution department and outside suppliers, minimizing the inventory
is well considered.
N Let them understand the meaning of the long, medium and short schedule plan enough,(to cope with the adjustment of short time delivery by the request from sales
department, and the lead time shortening improvement from the production side are very98

important.)
02 Do you plan and control the production schedule, carefully thinking of production
capacity?
Y Confirm that the requests from the sales department are well taken into consideration
though the averaged volume production is essentially more efficient.
N The production structure must be modified to efficiently realize small quantity
production of various kinds, so as to meet with the market needs.
02 Production planning and its execution
01 Production planning and its execution
01 Is the monthly production schedule established?
Y It must be kept within small adjustment with good timing, under the cooperation of
the department concerned, design, purchasing and outsourcing, as the schedule should
follow the requests from the sales side.
N Please arrange planning data and establish a regular practice to make a monthly
schedule.
02 Are the materials necessary for the planning prepared and do the people in charge ofthe related sections participate in the planning?
Y Confirm the level of inventory is low as a result of smooth execution of the planning.
N Recommend to find out some improvement points to reduce the inventory and tackle them.
03 Isn't the production schedule in trouble, due to a forced urgent schedule change
initiated by the design, purchase and/or outsourcing department?
Y Let s prepare the back up system to prevent harmful repetition.
N A possibility for the much quicker delivery should be challenged.

04 Process management
01 Planning stage
01 Planning stage
01 Are the process ability and allowance adequately grasped?
Is a standard daily schedule sheet made properly?
Y Check the latest record by the date of issue.
N They are the essential standard numerical figures to build up the plan.
02 Is the preparation period of raw material, important parts and jigs with tools secured?
And have the ordering system and the safety stock volume already been decided?
Y Check the accuracy of the lead time standard of procurement by measuring occurrenceof the unnecessary goods generated during switching from the old model to the new?
N You must prepare the basic rule and data of the ordering system first, and level themup gradually in the operation.
03 Are the standards such as operation time, working time, set up time and machining
time prepared already?
Y Review the daily production record, where the standard value and actual value arerecorded and some comments are on the big differences.
N Explain that they are standard numerical value for establishing any planning andfinding points to improve.
04 Does the production sometimes get confused by hard requirements from the sales
side?
Y Insufficient information, urgent rush orders, customer oriented special orders,specification changes after the order acceptance, and so on should be classified andtheir countermeasures should be examined.
N There is a possibility, though the problems are apt to be skillfully handled at the
production site, the facts are not reported to the management. Check all of themelaborately in the daily work report and the like.
05 Is the “production order sheet” published?
Y Check if the manufacturing number, the construction order number, the part code andthe drawing number are all managed uniformly under the numbering system.
N Promote to make a rule easy to understand for the workers and execute it as a basic
important matter. Any short or excessive inventory may be generated due to the schedule.
02 Progress management99

01 Progress management
01 Can you recognize where is the particular manufacturing number, using the progress
chart (for example, graph-type) or the progress control board?
Y Please explain the actual progressing status using the board.
N As a basic control in the factory, the actual progress conditions should be clear andvisible in terms of both in process and in quantity.
02 Can you easily judge actual causes and levels of the process troubles whenever a
production schedule delay occurs?
Y Make sure that troubles can be grasped in the production flow visibly.
N Make a device which is easy for the operation manager to be grasped, for example, astop of the whole production process in case of having a bad product.
03 Is the progress delay report submitted quickly with necessary information? And is thefrequency tabulated monthly being classified by the trouble causes?
Y Confirm that the countermeasures have been made, after considering the influence andthe frequency of the delay.
N As a manager, the fact confirmation of the delay and the recognition of the seriousness
should be instructed to the related people in a meeting.
04 How do you confirm the differences between the production plan and its actual resultand do you improve them?
Y When the differences is big, check whether the production is dull in the middle ofthe month and becomes active towards the end of month.
N When the difference between the plan and its actual result is small, confirm progressplan and actual result management from the viewpoint of the production control.
03 Excess capacity management
01 Excess capacity management
01 Have you decided how to investigate excess capacity and how to adjust it to proper
quantity?
Y Confirm that the excess capacity of equipment and human resources is so measured thatevery worker is willing to utilize the excess when necessary.
N In order to utilize the excess capacity, earlier periodical maintenance or operation
training for workers are recommended to plan.
04 Results record management
01 Results record management
01 As for various kinds of actual result data necessary for production planning, are they
accurately recorded everyday?
Y Confirm that every daily record is recorded, accumulated and sent back to the planning
section and to the section in charge of improvement.
N We must instruct the importance of reflecting the actual results of today to the planof tomorrow, thus the circle of PDCA can be rotating.
02 Are both a production report and an operation report daily submitted with necessary
description?
Y Make sure that everyday report is recorded properly and input to PC at site.
N A problem in a day must be solved within the day and do not put it off till tomorrow.
Make it a rule and a habit of the whole organization.
03 Are the actual result data or the original data reported to the right section?
Y The official reporting address and the address for reference should be classified.
N If the actual result data being not distributed to a right person, how come?
04 Are the reported materials fully utilized? Aren’t the unnecessary data collected?
Y Check whether necessary items of data, frequency and address are reviewed periodically.
N Let s put a price on the reported data. The section who utilizes those data might
determine the range and frequency they need, as minimum as possible.
05 Organization of process management
01 Organization of process management
01 Are the assignment and its responsibility of process control management so clearly
described that the management can enjoy a smooth cooperation with the production
people?
Y Confirm that production and material handling are well synchronized, because who is100

to take care of the process inventory being clear,
N As any trouble may happen where responsibility is not clear, let them understand thatthe assisting role of control staff is important.
02 The computerization of office work has been so progressed that any paper work at theworking site is eliminated?
Y Just confirm that any data are input to the computer at the production site.
N Starting from preliminary work like result summation and its report, you may plan
to proceed to computerization and mechanization?
03 Is the process control meeting held periodically? Is every problem discussed at eachmeeting to reach conclusions and to report to the related groups soon?
Y Any office information and documents should be distributed by intra‑net so that themeeting shall be held less frequently.
N It should be a factory rule to make the purpose of the meeting clear, to distributethe summary of what is decided to the related sections, and to follow how the decision
is executed.

05 Operation management
01 Operation management
01 Operation management
01 Is your factory operation standardized? (Is it in written form and is it well known toevery worker?)
Y Please explain your operation standard. (Standard operation time, specification ofmaterials, jigs/tools, working conditions, how to review your operation standard,etc)
N If not standardized, quality, productivity and so on are all dependent on eachworker s option and the results may be random and fluctuated without control.
02 Do all the workers daily record their results such as working hours, quantity ofmaterials used, quantity of production, various operation conditions and so on?
Y Check the recorded items and contents, such as the working time, the materials used,
the amount of production, working conditions, etc. and their follow‑up.
N Without records, which you accomplished today, the management circle of PDCA does
not work properly.
03 All of your workers respect and follow your operation manual? (Is anything left to theworker’s option?)
Y Confirm that the manager periodically checks the operation by the operation standard
and QC process chart.
N If the instruction being poor, quality and productivity are so dependent on eachworker s option that the output are random and fluctuated without control. The
systematization of OJT (on the job training) is needed ｆ ｏ ｒ ｔ ｈ ｅ ｐ ｕ ｒ ｐ ｏ ｓ ｅ ｏ f
succession of the working skill.
04 Is every operation actively improved? (improvement of production system such as
from manual to mechanization and to automation; and moreover shortening oftransportation distance, etc.)
Y Please explain the improvement planning and results of target. (Check the followings:
system improvement, mechanization, automation, and shortening material handling
distance, as well as devices to promote them such as commendation)
N Any enterprise cannot develop the competitive power without every day effort toimprove their production system.

06 Inspection and quality management
01 Inspection and quality management
01 Inspection and quality management
01 Have you established inspection standards and an inspection system which isadequate to your process?
Y Evaluate the inspection system and standards of the important processes, including
supplier s process for the parts and materials.
N Any poor quality will lose the reputation from the clients.

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02 In appearance inspection process, aren’t there any cases where an inspector may
evaluate the product by his own judgment?
Y Which items are they? Do they badly influence to the quality and production?
N It is important to evaluate all the items in numerical value as far as possible,and not to insert any individual subjectivity in the judgment.
03 Are the records of inspection and the control of defects made adequately?
Y Analyze the records, and confirm any effective measures of improvement have been
adopted.
N The inspection records are important for traceability, quality improvement,
countermeasure for defects, process improvement, and the like.
04 Do you conduct any education and instruction to the inspectors?
Y Check the education method and its contents of various kinds of inspection on quality,
quantity, random, concentration, and round‑about.
N The inspection is needed to guarantee the quality and cost to the following process.
05 Do you examine the defect rate of each product item and of each process?
Y Check the main defect causes and their countermeasures. (Explain 7 tools of quality
control method, 7 tools of new quality control method, etc, if necessary.)
N The examination of defects is very helpful to pick up problems and improve theprocess.
06 Is the inspection of purchased products and products ordered from outside properly
exercised?
Y Please explain the inspection method.
N As the purchased materials and parts are so influential to the delivery, quality
and cost, it is recommended to conclude an agreement on quality with suppliers.
07 Do you manage to control the inspection appliance and jig?
Y Please explain how to approve and authorize the accuracy of the inspection applianceand jig.
N Explain that you can not get the good evaluation and high confidence from your clients
without proper tool management, because it is a basis of quality control.

07 Cost management
01 Computing profitability
01 Break even point ratio of labor cost
01 Do you grasp the break even point ratio of labor cost (internal expense／total
man-hour X direct labor attendance ratio= additional value added per unit hour at the
break-even point)?
Y Do you apply the analysis result for judgment of profitability of each product?
N The ratio is effective for setting a target of cost reduction and improvement.
02Do you regularly calculate profitability of each product?
Y Confirm if they analyze the cost difference between the individual cost target andits result.
N It is necessary to measure the working hour first(either man hour or machinehour),which is the basis of cost computation.
02 Cost management organization
01 Cost management organization
01 Each cost management section clearly understands their responsibility and what todo?
Y Please explain the management system and its activities.
N It is necessary for the basic enterprise management to create a system where all
cost information is gathered to one particular section.
02 Does the planning section establish a standard cost or target cost, corresponding to
the production plan?
Y Please explain how different is between the target cost and the actual cost.
N The management will be out of control without a target.
03 How cost conscious are the designing and purchasing department? Aren’t there
any instances where they are so busy to keep the appointed date of delivery that they102are apt to neglect cost management?
Y Listen to the explanation who decides the cost target and measures to reduce cost
and who follows the cost reduction process.
N As these two departments are most useful and powerful in cost reduction, ask them
their full and active cooperation.
04 How cost conscious are the operation managers? Isn't their management priority
biased?
Y Please explain the cost reduction consciousness of the operation managers.
(Check whether they pay the closest attention to man‑hour reduction, inventory
reduction, measures against defects , keeping the production schedule and other cost
reduction sources such as yield, processing material unit, production efficiency
and working rate of equipment, which are aspects of cost performance and are grasped
only at the production site.)
N It is necessary to let the manager have keen cost consciousness.
05 Is “the cost audit” regularly conducted? Who analyze the cost difference between
planning and actual? Who is responsible to cost?
Y Please explain how the audit has been executed and what the result was.
N If audit being not conducted, an evaluation by the third party may be necessary andeffective.
03 Office system of cost management
01 Manufacturing instruction card
01 Is a manufacturing instruction card, which is the basis for cost management, issued
product by product and lot by lot?
Y Listen to the explanation of the contents of a manufacturing instruction card andthe actual condition of cost management. (Check whether the required amount of
production and production time, and a target cost per product, in which yield value,
efficiency, unit requirement and operation rate are included, are listed.)
N A manufacturing instruction card has basic data necessary to grasp exact cost
information.
02 Operation slip
01 Are you using an operation slip which indicates standard time?
Y Please explain the operation slip and method of grasping the production cost. (Check
whether standard time and standard of production efficiency, yield, unit
requirement, the rate of machine operation, including setup change time and repair
time are clearly indicated and the result can be compared with the standard.)
N These data are so useful for the production management that the data analysis devotes
to create the measure of the improvement, cost reduction, etc.
03 Material shipping slip
01 Do you make use of a material shipping slip? Isn’t it freely published by operators?
Y Confirm the material shipping slip in use is issued by the warehouse keeper.
N Insufficient inventory control caused by a free issue of the material shipping slip
will result the run‑out stock or excess inventory. Explain that the inventory
management is important from the view point of tax survey. It is necessary to makea rule of handling the material delivery from the warehouse keeper to the production
division.
04 Executing cost management
01 Executing cost management
01 Do you conduct a cost estimation of all the items on the blueprint base and do you
make any design changes in order to realize cost reduction?
Y Please explain the method of cost estimation, the result of cost reduction and thetarget of the cost reduction
N The designing is the most important division to realize cost reduction. (Reviewing
specification and material, standardization, multi‑purposed parts, reduction ofparts number and reflecting opinions of the production division are important factors
to reduce the cost.)
02 Are the actual cost data accumulated and maintained in the designing department?

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Y Check what kind of cost data they have.
N It is necessary for the designing section to be always ready to study and examine
cost reduction.
03 Are you conducting VE (value evaluation) in which the designing department takes anactive role?
Y Listen to the explanation on the present situation of value engineering activity.
Is the cost reduction target indicated by the top management?
N The value engineering activity is a very powerful method to realize cost reduction.
04 Are you conducting the designing of production lines in order to improve cost andproductivity?
Y Please explain the target and the results at present.
N It is essential to reflect the knowledge and know‑how of the production division,from the view points of equipment ability, processing, assembly and so on, to the
production line designing.
05 Are you aiming at GT (group technology) by conducting standardization ofdesigning and unification of materials and parts?
Y Listen to the explanation on the recent movement of their technology.
N Standardization and unification of designing are effective to improve cost
reduction, productivity, the inventory reduction, delivery time, etc.
02 Procurement Cost Management
01 Are you exercising an adequate inventory control system for regular materials,
preventing running out of stock and decreasing stock quantity ?
Y Please explain the names of the regular materials and their inventory management
system. Check whether the planning section intensively communicates with thepurchasing division especially at the time of product change.
N In order not to disturb production activity to prevent from running out of stock,and in order to realize cost reduction, an adequate inventory system is needed.
02 Are you researching cost reduction by proper way of order lot, contract method,
payment terms and so on?
Y Please explain the ordering method, the terms and conditions of ordering, and thecost reduction target and its result of major materials and parts. Do you adopt the
JIT system?
N The ordering terms and conditions will influence largely to cost and delivery.
03 Do you control the ordering price, based on the budget, acceptable cost or standard
cost?
Y Please explain how to make the decision of budget, acceptable cost, and standard
cost. And also explain what the difference between the target and the result is.
N The results can not be evaluated without budget and target. They are necessary forthe control.
04 By employing multiple suppliers system and comparing their estimates, are you
executing cost reduction through competitors?
Y Check whether they monitor the daily market price movement of commodities they use.
N Competition is effective for cost reduction (A central purchasing or a unificationof procurement will be useful for making purchasing management efficient and improvedin a certain management environment.)
05 Are you maintaining the price estimation tools (=cost table)?
Y Check how frequently the cost table is used by each purchasing item.
N Please start preparing the cost table by accumulating data.
06 Are you comparing outsourcing processing expenses and in-house processing
costs?
Y Please explain the concrete result comparing between in‑house production and outdoor
production. (Also check the allocation method of fixed costs, the major points ofproduction costs and the decision‑making method of outsourcing policy.)
N It is important to study in‑house production and outsourcing production from various
viewpoints, such as operating situation, allocation of fixed costs, investment inequipment, subcontracting policy and so on.
03 Operation cost management104

01 Do you indicate the result of operation improvement in terms of money?
Y Check that operation management and cost management are not segregated at production
site, by way of the smooth feedback of information of how the cost is improved.
N To assess the results in terms of money makes the effect so clear that the production
managers will be motivated to be more cost conscious.
02 Do you establish a standard amount of money for the equipment investment for
rationalization?
Y Please explain the standard. (The standard should be reexamined in the middle terms,
as the management environments such as interest rates, the impact of labor cost andfixed costs to the management, and the life cycle of products could fluctuate.)
N Both the investment amount for equipment and payback period are common standards
for the corporate level judgment.

08 Conditions of working place
01 Conditions of working place
01 Conditions of working place
01 Are you maintaining an adequate level of the working place conditions? (airconditioning, lighting, protection from noise, preventing gas and dust, safety andaccident measures)
Y Ask detailed explanation on the standard of the working conditions how to maintainthem and how to adopt employee s proposals.
N To maintain the working conditions is closely related with labor productivity, in
addition to keeping quality and observing the safety laws. (Arrangement/ordering:
fixed storage area and passages, shelves and containers, height of working tables
and location of materials and tools are to be carefully considered.)
02 Promotion of 5S
01 Arrangement, Ordering, Cleaning, Cleanliness, Discipline (in Japanese, Seiri, Seiton,
Seisou, Seiketu, and Ｓｈｉｔｕｋｅ)
01 Does the operation manager himself take the initiative role of promoting 5S and does
he thoroughly exercise 5S?
Y Please explain the method of promotion and its level at present.
N 5S is the bases of entire job improvements, where process inventory reduction,
working improvement, discovery of equipment defects, job rationalization, schedule
modification, no defects are included.
02 Does the top management have high motivation to carry them out?
Y What kind of indication does the top management direct?
N In order to materialize the 5S, the leadership of the top management is essential.
(It is necessary that the whole organization initiates action to promote the campaign
under the leadership of top management.)
03 Do you have any automated alarm mechanism and/or any visible control systemagainst the abnormal situation?
Y Please explain the actual cases.
N Alarm system and/or visible control will be the basis of the discovery of problems
and mistakes. (Identification of defective parts, disused parts, inventory and stockin process; first‑in first‑out of stock, and easiness to take out parts and tools
are good examples of visible control.)04 Are “the small group activities” at the operation site active?
Y Make sure that the results of small group activities are demonstrated on the noticeboard.
N The small group activities will be the basis of improvement (=Kaizen) by way of making
problems tangible, and promoting the workers
motivation.

09 Equipment management
01 Equipment and tools management
01 Equipment and tools management
01 Is the equipment planning constructed on the basis of product life-cycle?

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Y Confirm every equipment planning is flexibly constructed according to thelife‑cycle.
N Flexible equipment planning is one of the keys to strengthen the competitive power
and to enforce financial conditions of an enterprise, including subcontractors.
02 Have you established any system of equipment maintenance?
Y Listen to the explanation of their organization, policy and budget for equipment
preventing maintenance.
N It influences a net operation rate，delivery, products accuracy and quality.
03 Do you have an exact drawing of equipment allocation?
Y Check the drawing how it is detailed.
N The production process flow, physical handling, production capacity, and factory
future plan are necessary for improving the factory layout and for better equipment
planning.
04 Have you properly prepared a management system of usage, maintenance andstorage of tools and jigs?
Y Check whether the control system (=identification, storage, control organization,
past record, and so on) is defined in written form.
N It is necessary for anyone to be able to understand the system.
05 Is the safety standard of equipment and factory operation established ?
Ｙ Check whether the safety measures and environmental standards are properly prepared.
Also check whether safety patrols by the factory manager are carried out periodically
Ｎ Ensure to prepare the safety standard, because it is important not only for
productivity and morale improvement, but also for observing the law.

10 Logistics
01 Logistics system strategy
01 Logistics system strategy
01 Do you properly consider logistics from the view point of customer satisfaction?
Y Confirm that Logistics including procurement physical distribution, production
physical distribution, in‑house physical distribution, vein physical distribution,and sales physical distribution are organically composed and controlled, from theview point of client satisfaction. (Propose more possible improvement methods suchas CS, SCM, JIT, as a bench‑mark, if their level is as high as that of the top
enterprises.)
N Advise to examine the logistics system, as customers request service of delivery
sometimes more than price and quality.
02 Inventory management
01 Inventory management
01 Are you shifting your conception of inventory management from “inventory level
management” to “flow improvement activity”?
Y Listen to their concept of inventory management.
N By changing the cutting section of your viewpoint, some ideas for improvement
management will be found. (Information from suppliers, shortening lead time, thealternatively imported product, shortening the period stocked in the warehouse,disposal of the defects inventory may give you some hints to improve your inventory
management.)
02 As the function of inventory management, are you shifting your way of thinking from
“adequately stocked quantity” to “zero stock”?
Y Just listen to their philosophy ofzero stock . And check whether theirtransportation cost to deliver goods to customers has not been increased in recent
years.
N The promotion of the zero stock has an overall effect on the improvement of the factoryand management system.
03 Do you consider inventory management as an inseparably related activity with eachprocess of the physical distribution activity?
Y Please explain it with suitable exampleｓ.

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N Inventory management is necessary for the efficiency of production and cost
reduction, though it tends to be overlooked.
04 Which inventory management indicator do you select as most suitable for your use,
rotation ratio, rotation period, or the like?
Y Please explain the reason why you selected it.
N The inventory indicator is useful to set the target of reducing the inventory.
05 When you fill up the inventory management documents, are those factors likecorrectness, immediate correspondence, selectivity, practical effectivenesssecured?
Y Check whether the inventory method is Input‑Output system and the difference between
the booked record and the actual stock is recorded by products and by fixed placesof inventory.
N The inventory records are an important measure for reducing defective inventory,
shortage of inventory and excessive inventory.
03 Calculation of physical distribution cost
01 Calculation of physical distribution cost
01 Do you recognize that the payment of the physical distribution expenses is just a tipof the iceberg of the total flow costs?
Y Check whether they realize the total distribution cost is consisted of every
distribution cost of procurement, production, in‑house and sales.
N It is necessary to catch the total physical distribution cost.
02 Do you recognize that the physical distribution cost is composed of the following
functional expenses, such as wrapping expense, delivery expense, storage expense,
loading and unloading expense, in-market processing expense ?
Y Please explain each cost.
N It is necessary to catch the total physical distribution cost, analyzing the cost
constitution and identifying individual cost.
03 Do you recognize that the total physical distribution cost of manufacturers in average
is 9% of sales amount?
Y How much is your ratio of the physical distribution cost?
N It is necessary to catch the total physical distribution cost. The reduction ofphysical distribution cost has the same profit increasing effect as the large sales
increase.
04 Do you make a decision of how to distribute through the profitability analysis of
distribution?
Y Explain the result of the analysis.
N It is necessary to examine the profitability, as it is easy to be overlooked.

11 Designing management
01 Designing management
01 Designing management
01 Do you understand how frequently design changes and drawing corrections arecarried out and how much damage they cause to the production side?
Y Please explain a sample which shows the management and present situation
N Any changes will affect lead time and costs before shipment.
02 Does the designer have enough knowledge on production method, production
process, and costs? Does he get enough feedback of the opinions from operations
or production technology department?
Y Confirm the designer has enough experience in the operation.
N The experience and knowledge of operation will affect much to the production and cost.
03 Do you make a daily schedule of designing? Can you secure enough time for thedesigning? In case of delay, how do you manage?
Y Make sure that the standard man‑hour table, the ability coefficient of designer, theplanned man‑hour calculation table and the daily report are well prepared.
N To keep the design schedule is the basis of production
04 How do you manage the drawings? Is the arrangement of drawing modifications
and changes adequate and quick? Are the old drawings before the modification allcollected and scrapped?

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Y Explain the management method and system of drawing.
N It affects to eliminate the idle operation and to keep reliability from clients.
05 Have you introduced CAD (Computer-aided design)?
Y Please explain the way of application, number of units, type of CAD, and the effectof computer‑aided design.
N It will be a strong weapon for your designing.

12 Production technology
01 Situation of production technology division
01 Situation of production technology division
01 Do you have staff in charge of production technology? What are the responsibility
items of the production technology division?
Y Please explain the number of engineers and the contents of responsibility in charge.
N They are essential for the improvement of costs, productivity and quality.
02 How is the situation of your equipment modernization? Are you not left behind?
Y Please explain NC machine (numerical control) rate, and the contents and amount of
the investment for equipment in the last 5 years.
N It has a lot of influence on the competitive power such as productive and quality.
03 Do you understand the responsibility and the corresponding capability of the people
in charge of designing and creating molds, tools, and equipments? Also, do you get
the information how much you utilize out-sourcing?
Y Please explain it with a concrete example.
N The production technology is important to improve the productivity.
04 Are you actively conducting research for the improvement of the processing method
and the process?
Y Please explain the themes and results in last 1 year.
N It is important for the improvement and the increase of productivity, such as cost
reduction, man‑hour reduction, production/assembly, improvement of yield, defects
reduction, process improvement and so on.

13 ISO 9000 (Quality system evaluation registration system)
01 Acquisition of ISO9000 certification
01 Acquisition of ISO9000 certification
01 With regard to the acquisition of ISO9000 certification, how do you understand its
essence?
Y Please explain the purpose of acquisition and its effect. (the client demands，
the expansion of markets, the review of company' management system and its level‑up)
N It is necessary to study ISO9000 for business expansion and level up of a company
management system.

14 ISO14001 (Environment management system)
01 Ecomanagement and environment safety
01 Ecomanagement and environment safety
01 Are you actively conducting an environment management?
Y Explain energy saving, resources cycling, waste disposal, green procurement, productdevelopment
N It is necessary to study ISO14001 for business expansion and level up of a company
management system.

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