The Typical Japanese Overseas Factory

Abstract

Abstract Outline of the Surveyed Factories Local plant observations were carried out in the United States, Canada, and Mexico, over a period of approximately 1.5 months from the middle of August to the end of September, 1989. A total of forty-nine American, Japanese, and Korean plants from the auto assembly, auto parts, consumer electronics, and semiconductor industries was investigated. Table 3-1 provides the outline of forty-one Japanese plants included in this total. Since the principal objective of this research is to study conditions pertaining to the transfer of the Japanese-style management and production system to the United States, the study focuses upon conditions obtaining among thirty-four Japanese plants located mainly in the United States. Three of these are located in Canada, but since management conditions affecting these plants are judged to be essentially the same as those in the United States, they are evaluated according to the same criteria as the plants located in the United States. This study includes nine auto assembly plants identified as plants AA to Al. The oldest of these is plant AA, which began producing automobiles in 1982 (motorcycles in 1979), followed by plants AB and AC, which also began production in the first half of the 1980s. The other six plants had a history of less than 2 years and in some cases had only just come on stream when the study was carried out. The nine auto parts plants were established over virtually the same period of time, reflecting the relatively short history of the expansion into the United States by the Japanese auto industry as a whole.