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What Lessons the Japanese Auto Industry Teach Us About Business Innovation?

The three key points the Japanese auto industry preaches to the world are premium quality, unbelievable process flexibility, and incredible productivity. The Japanese automobile industry reformed automobile manufacturing by introducing excellent management methods like lean, six sigma, and Kaizen. The world learned how to improvise constantly and improve the manufacturing process to achieve the point of zero error from the Japanese companies. 

Six Sigma training 

Japanese companies like Toyota showed the automobile world how to increase physical productivity enormously. Their manufacturing process is the till date as it works with maximum speed and never creates any faulty product. The labor and cost of production per piece are considerably less in Japan than other automobile doyens in the world. 

Several companies in the US are now adapting techniques like Toyota’s Six Sigma to improve management efficiency. Opex Learning provides Six Sigma White Belt, yellow, green, and black belt training to individuals and businesses to achieve operational excellence. Opex Six Sigma training is self-paced and streamlined with care to cover all the features of the concept.

Better inventory turnover 

Inventory turnover is a crucial factor of efficiency in major manufacturing companies. Japanese firms emphasized making the entire process flexible instead of maximizing finished goods output quantity. They did not worry about marketing the finished goods and started concentrating on finished products when they received the order. 

The assembly line was always ready with semi-finished goods and the required spare parts. Manufacturing got altered constantly based on everyday orders received from the retail stores. It brought down inventory costs, saved space, and revolutionized the way operations work, as every product finished already had a customer. They guaranteed profits, purchased only the necessary parts, and the manufacturing process was quite fast. 

Strive for excellence 

Japanese companies like Nissan, Hino, and Isuzu had good experience assembling European and American vehicles in their factories. They did many in-house experiments using innovative strategies to improve their productivity. Japanese people never felt enough once they achieved the target and kept pushing themselves to achieve more. 

While most companies worldwide followed German standards and American management strategies, Japanese companies created their own set of rules. Their business strategies were rooted in outperforming their previous achievements rather than competing with others. Constant improvement and taking one step to betterment every day lead to unparalleled excellence in the automobile field. 

Combining Lean and Kaizen 

The lean technique is used in the automobile industry to control wastage of any type. Excess time, resources, workers quantity, unnecessary allotment of space, money everything gets controlled under lean management. Implementing lean methodology in business means eliminating wastage using every available resource to its maximum ability. 

Kaizen means striving for continuous improvement, which is possible through the Lean technique. Japanese companies used the western Lean and Japanese Kaizen to streamline their business processes, achieving maximum productivity. Kaizen calls for constant change and pushing forward, while Lean points out the problems in the way and eliminates them. Japanese companies successfully proved how to get the best of both worlds by combining various strategies. 

Cherish the roots 

The greatest lesson the Japanese automobile industry teaches the world is never getting satisfied, trying to outperform oneself, and being innovative. Japanese companies did not copy western ideologies and create strategies based on their values and roots. Their belief in solid work ethics and immense self-discipline imbibed with their culture reflected in the business strategies the Japanese companies invented. 

Japanese automobile industries derived the best practices from their roots and used them innovatively to suit the modern requirements. Understanding one’s own culture, capabilities and using them to bring out the best in every endeavor is a vital lesson Japanese automobile companies taught the world. 

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