Operations Management in Japan

Hiromichi Shibata is Professor Emeritus in the Faculty of Business Administration, Yokohama National University, Yokohama, Japan. His publications include Explaining Productivity Differences: Comparative Analysis of Automotive Plants in Japan, the United States, Thailand, and China from Springer (2016), "A Comparison of the Roles and Responsibilities of Manufacturing Engineers in Japan and the United States" in the International Journal of Human Resource Management (2009), "Productivity and Skill at a Japanese Transplant and its Parent Company" in Work and Occupations (2001), and "A Comparison of American and Japanese Work Practices: Skill Formation, Communications, and Conflict Resolution" in Industrial Relations (1999).

1. Introduction: How Manufacturing Engineers Contribute to Efficient Manufacturing 2. Manufacturing Engineers at a Benchmark Japanese Car Component Firm 3. A Typical Work Day of a Japanese Manufacturing Engineer (Benchmark Firm) 4. Manufacturing Engineers in the Parts Processing and Assembly Sector: Automobile, Electronics, and Business Machine Industries (Japan) 5. Manufacturing Engineers in the Material Processing Sector: Steel, Chemical, and Pharmaceutical Industries (Japan) 6. Sectoral, Industry, and Company Variations in the Roles of Manufacturing Engineers in Japan 7. Manufacturing Engineers in the Automotive Industry in Germany, France, and the United States 8. Conclusions: The Hidden Linchpin Roles of Manufacturing Engineers