Adoption of just-in-time manufacturing methods at U.S.- and Japanese-owned plants: Some empirical evidence

Masao Nakamura; Sadao Sakakibara; Roger Schroeder

doi:10.1109/17.704245

Adoption of just-in-time manufacturing methods at U.S.- and Japanese-owned plants: Some empirical evidence

Masao Nakamura
, Sadao Sakakibara
, Roger Schroeder

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

76 Scopus citations

Abstract

Since the early 1980's, when Japanese manufacturing firms in a number of industries-including auto, electronics, and machinery-achieved high levels of international competitiveness, Japanese manufacturing practices-particularly those associated with just-in-time manufacturing (JIT)-have attracted considerable attention in North America. Transfer to the United States of JIT is characterized by special production management practices involving inventory and quality control, industrial relations, and supplier-manufacturer relationships. Because so many different aspects of plant operation are involved, the transfer of JIT requires a substantial effort on the part of U.S. manufacturers. Despite this barrier, anecdotal evidence suggests that substantial transfer of Japanese production methods has taken place and that this transfer has had a significant impact on the performance of U.S. manufacturing plants. However, there is little empirical evidence of this process that is based on broad samples of plants and workers from various manufacturing industries. The purpose of this paper is to help fill this gap in the literature. Using a sample of U.S.- and Japanese-owned manufacturing plants in the United States in three different industries, we show that the implementation of JIT has improved many of the performance measures for these U.S. manufacturing plants.

Original language	English (US)
Pages (from-to)	230-240
Number of pages	11
Journal	IEEE Transactions on Engineering Management
Volume	45
Issue number	3
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1109/17.704245
State	Published - 1998
Externally published	Yes

Bibliographical note

Funding Information:
Manuscript received June 1, 1996; revised March 2, 1997. Review of this manuscript was arranged by Guest Editors J. K. Liker and D. V. Gibson. M. Nakamura’s work was supported in part by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada and in part by the Centre for International Business Studies at the University of British Columbia. M. Nakamura is with the Faculty of Commerce, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, B.C. V6T 1Z2 Canada. S. Sakakibara is with the Faculty of Business and Commerce, Keio University, Tokyo, Japan. R. Schroeder is with the Carlson School of Management, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN 55455 USA. Publisher Item Identifier S 0018-9391(98)05251-9.

UN SDGs

This output contributes to the following UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

SDG 9 Industry, Innovation, and Infrastructure

Keywords

Just-in-time manufacturing
Manufacturing performance
Production management practices

Publisher link

10.1109/17.704245

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title = "Adoption of just-in-time manufacturing methods at U.S.- and Japanese-owned plants: Some empirical evidence",

abstract = "Since the early 1980's, when Japanese manufacturing firms in a number of industries-including auto, electronics, and machinery-achieved high levels of international competitiveness, Japanese manufacturing practices-particularly those associated with just-in-time manufacturing (JIT)-have attracted considerable attention in North America. Transfer to the United States of JIT is characterized by special production management practices involving inventory and quality control, industrial relations, and supplier-manufacturer relationships. Because so many different aspects of plant operation are involved, the transfer of JIT requires a substantial effort on the part of U.S. manufacturers. Despite this barrier, anecdotal evidence suggests that substantial transfer of Japanese production methods has taken place and that this transfer has had a significant impact on the performance of U.S. manufacturing plants. However, there is little empirical evidence of this process that is based on broad samples of plants and workers from various manufacturing industries. The purpose of this paper is to help fill this gap in the literature. Using a sample of U.S.- and Japanese-owned manufacturing plants in the United States in three different industries, we show that the implementation of JIT has improved many of the performance measures for these U.S. manufacturing plants.",

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author = "Masao Nakamura and Sadao Sakakibara and Roger Schroeder",

note = "Funding Information: Manuscript received June 1, 1996; revised March 2, 1997. Review of this manuscript was arranged by Guest Editors J. K. Liker and D. V. Gibson. M. Nakamura{\textquoteright}s work was supported in part by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada and in part by the Centre for International Business Studies at the University of British Columbia. M. Nakamura is with the Faculty of Commerce, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, B.C. V6T 1Z2 Canada. S. Sakakibara is with the Faculty of Business and Commerce, Keio University, Tokyo, Japan. R. Schroeder is with the Carlson School of Management, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN 55455 USA. Publisher Item Identifier S 0018-9391(98)05251-9.",

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N1 - Funding Information: Manuscript received June 1, 1996; revised March 2, 1997. Review of this manuscript was arranged by Guest Editors J. K. Liker and D. V. Gibson. M. Nakamura’s work was supported in part by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada and in part by the Centre for International Business Studies at the University of British Columbia. M. Nakamura is with the Faculty of Commerce, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, B.C. V6T 1Z2 Canada. S. Sakakibara is with the Faculty of Business and Commerce, Keio University, Tokyo, Japan. R. Schroeder is with the Carlson School of Management, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN 55455 USA. Publisher Item Identifier S 0018-9391(98)05251-9.

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N2 - Since the early 1980's, when Japanese manufacturing firms in a number of industries-including auto, electronics, and machinery-achieved high levels of international competitiveness, Japanese manufacturing practices-particularly those associated with just-in-time manufacturing (JIT)-have attracted considerable attention in North America. Transfer to the United States of JIT is characterized by special production management practices involving inventory and quality control, industrial relations, and supplier-manufacturer relationships. Because so many different aspects of plant operation are involved, the transfer of JIT requires a substantial effort on the part of U.S. manufacturers. Despite this barrier, anecdotal evidence suggests that substantial transfer of Japanese production methods has taken place and that this transfer has had a significant impact on the performance of U.S. manufacturing plants. However, there is little empirical evidence of this process that is based on broad samples of plants and workers from various manufacturing industries. The purpose of this paper is to help fill this gap in the literature. Using a sample of U.S.- and Japanese-owned manufacturing plants in the United States in three different industries, we show that the implementation of JIT has improved many of the performance measures for these U.S. manufacturing plants.

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Adoption of just-in-time manufacturing methods at U.S.- and Japanese-owned plants: Some empirical evidence

Abstract

Bibliographical note

UN SDGs

Keywords

Publisher link

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