抄録
There were many Japanese electric manufacturers who had introduced “modern” or “scientific” management as well as engineering technique from abroad. However, business historians did not bring forth detailed studies on this topic so far.
In this case study, the author clarified the significances of Time Study Method at Kobe factory of Mitsubishi Electric Company in 1925, and analysed the backdrop and process of the introduction of this method and its application to the workshop. Furthermore, the author discussed the diffusion of this method to other Japanese firms.
Some results from this investigation are shown as follows.
1) As for business circumstances in this period, three fundamental elements were pointed out : the expanding markets, the radical labour movement and the decreasing labour mobility. These changing business conditions urged managers and engineers to reorganize the structure of management at the workshop and to pay attention to the availability of the scientific management method.
2) Time Study Method was, first of all, introduced into electric fan shop of Kobe Works by Takeo Kato who had learned the scientific management method at Westinghouse Electric Company after the technical tie-up of the two companies in 1923. At the electric fan shop, the Time Study Method was succesfully applied to the fabricating process, and then the wage rate based on this Time Study, guaranteed the workers the average wage in the industry concerned.
3) The Time Study Method from Westinghouse was eventually diffused into the governmental factories such as Kokura Works of the Ministry of Railway and Kure Navy Shipyard. Nobuo Noda and Takeo Kato, pioneering in the introduction of the Time Study Method to Mitsubishi, took an leading role in the scientific management movement in the Showa Era.
