Productivity in Japan's manufacturing industry

Japanese manufacturing industries have remarkably improved productivity in the last three decades. This paper describes the background of this improvement by using the iron and steel industry as an example. For the purpose of improving productivity, large scale and high-speed facilities are indispensable, but for the scientific transformation of the operator's esoteric art, tacit knowledge and clinical engineering into an exoteric art, then explicit knowledge and theoretical engineering are of more importance. The author also points out that while team work activities, which are voluntary efforts to continuously improve manufacturing technologies, have played a significant role in developing high productivity, the integration of a company's research and development program into its corporate planning will become a significant issue in the future.