Beyond mass production

"How can it be that Japanese "transplant" manufacturers are succeeding on U.S. soil, where American companies have failed? Beyond Mass Production provides the first inside look at the Japanese automobile, steel, and rubber companies that are transforming America's industrial heartland. It takes the reader inside the factories, unveiling the methods and techniques Japanese companies use to produce world-class products in America with American workers." "The key, the authors argue, lies in the whole new model of organizing work and production that first emerged in Japan and is now being transferred to the United States. This new system harnesses the intellectual capabilities of all workers, from the Research and Development laboratory to the factory floor, as a source of innovation and productivity improvement. It results in a powerful integration of intellectual and physical labor that will forever transform the way work is done." "Based upon more than five years of detailed research including field studies of dozens of factories, hundreds of personal interviews, and comprehensive surveys of industrial sectors, this book offers compelling evidence of the emergence and transfer of th