A CALS/EC education and training course for Japanese small- and medium-sized enterprises

This paper aims to report a CALS/EC education and training course for Japan ese small-and medium-sized enterprises, conducted by the Advanced Polytechn ic Center of Employment Promotion Corporation, and administered by the Japa nese Ministry of Labor. The course was started in 1996, with the intention of training 'CALS engineers' to be able to structure/restructure business p rocesses in CALS or CALS-like environments, and to reengineer questionable traditional Japanese management practices, particularly in small- and mediu m-sized enterprises. Concepts and curricula of the course are discussed, pa rticularly in terms of its CALS/EC-based business process re-engineering. A n example of practical course exercises, which require participants to mode l both 'as-is' and 'to-be' business processes to enhance the above-mentione d ability, is also presented.