Competitive Advantage: Manufacturing Strategies Used by US and Japanese Companies (free Business e-Coach)

By Vadim Kotelnikov, Inventor, Author & Founder, Ten³ BUSINESS e-COACH – Innovation Unlimited, 1000ventures.com

Comparative Strengths & Advantages:

United States – where markets and technologies undergo constant and rapid changes
Japan – where technologies are relatively stable and making incremental improvements is the basis for advantage

GOALS	STRATEGIES
	U.S. Companies Venturing unlimited	Motto: "It's not the big that eat the small... it's the fast that eat the slow."	Japanese Companies Improvement unlimited	Motto: "O snail, climb Mount Fuji with no hurry."
The Core Advantage	Venture strategies		Continuous improvement
Making Things Better	Revolution: radical Innovation, changing the name of the game Technology-focused solutions to enhance product design and manufacturability Quality management: statistical control of processes, zero-defects, and vendor quality programs		Evolution: Kaizen, group technology, good condition and proper placement of equipment, smaller manufacturing units, and quality circles Statistical control of processes, zero-defects, and vendor quality programs
Making Things Cheaper	Job enlargement programs Outsourcing Automation and robotics		Value analysis Standardizing products Lean manufacturing, just-in-time manufacturing Reducing lead and cycle times
Making Things Faster	Reducing bureaucracy Institutionalizing innovation Flexible manufacturing systems (FMS) Innovation-adept culture		Continuous reduction of lead and setup times Equipment maintenance Supervisory training Broadening of worker's jobs
Being More Agile*	Fast company Opportunity-driven business development Enterprise-wide business process management (EBPM) Cross-functional communication improvements		Considering agility as an integral part of quality and delivery capability; a by-product of action programs to improve these areas
New Product Development	Moving ideas sequentially (vertically) through functional areas. Establishment of cross-functional innovation teams by leading companies.		Development by cross-functional product development teams; integration of all ideas in the early design stages, thus reducing time and cost, and optimizing the overall manufacturing process

* – the ability to introduce faster new products and designs and respond quickly to changing customer demands; the area in which Japanese companies maintain the largest competitive lead over US and European firms