http://doi.org/10.7880/abas.0170421a
Mitsuhiro FUKUZAWA1)(ORCID: http://orcid.org/0000-0001-7705-4857), Nobuyuki INAMIZU2)(ORCID: http://orcid.org/0000-0002-2840-6139)
1) Faculty of Economics, Seikei University 2) Graduate School of Economics, University of Tokyo
Keywords: multi-functional factory, performance, mother factory, electric and electronics industry
A questionnaire distributed to domestic factories belonging to Japan’s electric and electronics industry revealed three results: (1) regardless of the significant shift of production functions to sites outside Japan, approximately 90% of domestic locations are able to complete production functions to a high degree; (2) approximately 54% of locations are able to complete design functions to a high degree, whereas 24% are able to do so to a low degree; and (3) domestic production sites that are able to completely fulfill multiple functions (design/production engineering/production) have the following traits: 1) they are superior to their rivals at delivery accuracy and speed and better at responding to market needs and 2) they are superior to their transplants in China/ASEAN countries at making proposals and developing new products. This suggests that multi-functional factories are superior to their transplants in the area of new product proposal and development.
