MANUFACTURING TECHNOLOGY IN JAPAN

Japan, as a country, is viewed as a success in global manufacturing. T his article describes present trends in Japanese manufacturing industr ies-technological innovations, market-oriented manufacturing, and inte rnational production. Production techniques that originated in Japan, such as just-in-time (JIT), quality circle activity, and total quality control (TQC), are explained. Japanese manufacturing industries are n ot as efficient as believed. By introducing a new performance measure called the efficiency index, which evaluates the efficiency of industr ial sectors, Japan's manufacturing industry is evaluated, and several causes of industrial inefficiency are examined. Indicating a large imb alance of material import and export in Japan, ''socially appropriate production'' is described as a means to gain manufacturing excellence while contributing to public wealth and welfare.