This Paper is a preliminary note on an empirical analysis that compares different interpretations and implementations of so called "lean production system", by different automobile manufacturers in the world. The paper tries to explain why significant inter-firm differences in manufacturing...

This paper undertakes a practical analysis on the Chinese munitions enterprises' advance to the car production, their formation of the development strategies and the globalization process with foreign-ventured enterprises in order to formulate their mass production system. Along with the end of...

A product development project can be regarded as a bundle of problem-solving cycles by which an organization tries to construct a "cause map" for a future value-creation (i.e., production-consumption) process. Effective patterns of product development, in this context, means a set of...

This paper explores emerging trends in product development in some Japanese auto makers. After briefly summarizing the recent history of capability-building in automobile product development in the 1990s(e.g., the Western catch-up, fat design problem, design simplification, platform strategy,...

This paper analyzes the modularization in the world auto industry. The modularization in the industry has been involving architectural changes in product, production, and supplier systems, with each region (Japan, Europe, and the U.S.A.) emphasizing different purposes and aspects. As an attempt...

The purpose of this paper is to specify the factors that produce successful R&D in the Japanese chemical industry. A questionnaire survey covering 51 projects in 22 Japanese chemical companies was conducted and various statistical analyses were performed. First, we divided chemical products into...

Shorter development lead times, other things being equal, contribute to competitive advantages in many of today's industries where market needs and available technologies are difficult to predict, rapidly changing or diversified, where novelty is highly valued in the market, and where...

The subject of this paper is an empirical study about the impact and introduced period of 3D-CAD(three dimensional computer-aided design) on the product development process in the automobile parts industry in Japan. In particular, this study examines how 3D-CAD impacts product design review and...

In this paper, we examine the diversity of transaction patterns observed between a single pair of one automaker and one auto parts supplier in Japan. Assumed reasonably that the factor of relational skill is under control in such dyadic transaction relationship, other factors that may influence...

This note is based on an interview with Mr. Kaneyoshi Kusunoki, who worked closely with Mr. Taiichi Ohno, the creator of so-called Toyota Production System. An interview with him was conducted on April 17, 1996 by the authors. First, there was a brief interview on Mr. Kusunoki's involvement in...