Production Management
Online ISSN : 2186-6120
Print ISSN : 1341-528X
Volume 20, Issue 2
Displaying 1-33 of 33 articles from this issue
Preface
Table of Contents
Refereed Research Papers
Research Papers
  • Seigo MATSUNO, Shinya TAGAWA, Yasuo UCHIDA, Takao ITO
    2014Volume 20Issue 2 Pages 39-44
    Published: 2014
    Released on J-STAGE: June 08, 2025
    JOURNAL FREE ACCESS

     In general, information service firms are classified into two typical patterns based on the difference in equity participant structure. One is independent group such as software vendors and the other is non-independent group such as information systems subsidiaries established by spinning off a firm's own information systems department. In this paper, we empirically investigate the difference in the feature according to the two patterns of information service firms in Japan. Using the data of information services industry in Japan, we show the followings. The non-independent group has a large size of business compared with the independent one. However, the ratio of net profit on sales is relatively small. Also, the non-independent group has a high dependence to the specific customer (parent firm). Furthermore, in the 1990s, M&A is progressing significantly in the non-independent group compared with the independent one. Finally, we argue about the directional character of managing information systems subsidiaries.

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  • ―A Starting Point of the Rebirth of Japanese Makers, Part 1―
    Hiroaki SATAKE
    2014Volume 20Issue 2 Pages 45-50
    Published: 2014
    Released on J-STAGE: June 08, 2025
    JOURNAL FREE ACCESS

     In the 21st century many Japanese makers fall their competitive power. We find out the cause of this fall of competitive power on the obscurity of individual responsibility of Japanese business organization, not on the poor in business strategy. Mr. Toyama, the CEO of the Industrial Growth Platform Inc. said that it was the result of problems of the business organization. How carefully we map out a strategy, if we cannot practice it, it is only an empty theory. This recognition was heard soon after the world war Ⅱ by CCS management seminar, projected by GHQ and in the analysis of Japanese management written by J. Abegglen. Therefor it is difficult to make decision on his own responsibility and authority. CCS management seminar based on the theory of business organization by A. Brown, the American common view at that time. After that, through periods of higher economic growth and lower economic growth after the Oil Shock, Japanese makers enter into world market with great competitive power. With that the difficulty of Japanese management, obscurity of individual responsibility, has been out of the focus of the industrial discussion. On the contrary Japanese organization that can change flexible with the demand in the market, makes advantage of competitive power. But the difficulty of Japanese management, pointed out soon after the World War Ⅱ has not been yet solved at all. In this papers we follow how the judgment on the obscurity of individual responsibility and slow decision making have changed and will point out what improvement are needed for rapid and accurate decision making.

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  • ―A Starting Point of the Rebirth of Japanese Makers, Part 2―
    Hiroaki SATAKE
    2014Volume 20Issue 2 Pages 51-56
    Published: 2014
    Released on J-STAGE: June 08, 2025
    JOURNAL FREE ACCESS

    In this papers we intend to point out how we can realize rapid and accurate decision making, or how we can realize the accuracy of individual responsibility, on the assumption of the difficulty of Japanese companies. At that time we follow the practical standpoint of Brown’s theory. On the practice, Brown in the first place sets much of the responsibility of top management. In this case being assumed the owner companies, however there are many owner companies, owner companies of American type and of rising nations type. Judging from his career, he did not suppose these owner companies. Mr. Toyama assumed Japanese salary-men executives as a typical case of the slow decision making. We assumed that Brown takes European owner companies. In Brown’s organization theory, the responsibility of top management must be made accurate at first. Top management takes himself the most important part of them, and delegates other parts to other executives. Other executives take themselves the most important part of them, and delegate other parts to the managers. By this way all members of organization to the new comers come to be accurate. Brown’s organization theory thus lay a stress on the formal aspect of the business organization, pay almost no attention to informal aspects. In this way Brown’s theory is different from Ch. I. Barnard, the authority of organization theory. However formal and static, the Brown’s theory is systematic. The theory is suitable to apply to Japanese society that has not so developed on the formal aspect of social relations.

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  • ―The Agenda of Mono-Zukuri in the Coto-Zukuri Era―
    Akira UMEMURA
    2014Volume 20Issue 2 Pages 57-62
    Published: 2014
    Released on J-STAGE: June 08, 2025
    JOURNAL FREE ACCESS

     Now we see a trend called “From Mono Zukuri, Manufacturing, to Coto Zukuri” for activating consumer consumptions after the years of surpassing supply over the demand of the industrial products. When we examine “Coto Zukuri” from the point of the view of quality, we can say it is an approach to emphasize the “Quality of the usage” appreciated by consumers. Here I extract the factors of “Coto Zukuri” and consider what “Cotozukuri” means, and figure out the model for a success of “Coto Zukuri”

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  • Akira UMEMURA
    2014Volume 20Issue 2 Pages 63-68
    Published: 2014
    Released on J-STAGE: June 08, 2025
    JOURNAL FREE ACCESS

     Because of the development of ICT technologies, the increase of cyber shopping has been phenomenal. The spread of smart phones and tabloid terminals brought in the new direction of cyber shopping like “Showrooming”, and the retail industry is trying to set up the new countermeasures for sales like “Omni channel” to keep on running the business and win the competition. The large scale retail industries should promote the strategy to become SPA, specialty store retailer of private label apparel because they have to meet the market needs for the short lead time in the product launch, production and distribution as well as develop the abilities for high efficiency and the way to cope with the variability of the market. For the manufacturing industries, one of their strategies should be to keep the track on the change of the retail industries.

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  • Kenji KURASHIGE, Yoshinari YANAGAWA
    2014Volume 20Issue 2 Pages 69-74
    Published: 2014
    Released on J-STAGE: June 08, 2025
    JOURNAL FREE ACCESS

     The time - based goal chasing method (TBGC) has been proposed to keep the consumption rate of each part constant in consideration of the different assembly time. The good position of TBGC is able to consider the influence of idle time and line stop time in the total assembly time. We formulated work situations including line stop time and applied TBGC to assembly line with multiple work stations. However, the assembly line model is simplified under some assumptions. In this paper, we newly consider walking back time and simultaneous tasks with an adjacent worker in addition to the assembly line model in the past study.

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  • Akira UMEMURA
    2014Volume 20Issue 2 Pages 75-80
    Published: 2014
    Released on J-STAGE: June 08, 2025
    JOURNAL FREE ACCESS

     There are restrictions for farming to enhance the productivity because not much land for the large scale farming is available in the Intermountain area. And the composition of the population in the Intermountain area shows the high ratio of elderly people that means aging and falling population will continue in the long run. The agenda for the vital local communities is to promote local industries, especially farming sectors, and increase income of local residents. This example case is a report of the activities of the proposal for the local activation at a town in B area

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  • Kenji MURAMATSU
    2014Volume 20Issue 2 Pages 81-87
    Published: 2014
    Released on J-STAGE: June 08, 2025
    JOURNAL FREE ACCESS

     This paper presents the production control model that enables automatic coordination to constraint violation and discrepancy on the process of developing planning and scheduling and ensures the expected profit to be obtained through production. The objective is to advocate the innovation of the way of thinking, principle, and technology of conventional uncontrollable production management toward controllable ones. In order to avoid respective treatments of more than a couple of dozen conditions necessary for profit oriented production, we take advantage of the characteristic of the decomposition coordination method that can simplify solution of a large-scale complicated constrained optimisation problem . First, by defining a primitive object which denote a state of ternary relation consisting of item to be processed, and machine to be used, and timeslot of processing, we formulate the problem of production over the whole process from order entry to shipment into a single constrained dynamic optimization model. Second, the model is solved repetitively by item base decomposition and coordination method with respect to 0-1 variable as to a state of primitive object. We get a profit oriented production schedule when coordination ends.

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  • Zhong SHAO
    2014Volume 20Issue 2 Pages 88-93
    Published: 2014
    Released on J-STAGE: June 08, 2025
    JOURNAL FREE ACCESS

     In this study, based on the situation of advance to China of Japanese companies which have been seen by author's China field survey of past, the problems about the localization of management, technology, and talented people, the communication and corporate culture in local Japanese companies are argued, and the total optimization subject which cannot bypass global production is considered. Moreover, the meaning of global production is examined, the irrational it of global production that followed the thinking of the ocean trade that gained profits by the “Price Variance between Different Grounds” problem is argued, and the directivity of global production will be considered.

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  • Takashi IWAMOTO
    2014Volume 20Issue 2 Pages 94-99
    Published: 2014
    Released on J-STAGE: June 08, 2025
    JOURNAL FREE ACCESS

     In Japanese software industry, demand of software development increased between 1970 and 1980. In 1984,Japanese committee predicted that we would experience the shortage of more than 6 hundred thousand software engineers in 1990 in Japan. However the predicted number was changed to 9 hundred 70 thousand for 2000. But both industry side and government side have only taken quantity of the software engineer into consideration, and they have not taken quality of the software engineer into consideration. Now, Japanese electric companies reduce the profit, and Japanese ICT industry go forward the same way by 5.6 years behind. Destroyed countries do exist, and glorious countries do exist too, as the typical glorious country we mention the case of India where ICT industry has led to success to find the keyword for the ICT industrial Renaissance in Japan.

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  • Takashi IWAMOTO
    2014Volume 20Issue 2 Pages 100-105
    Published: 2014
    Released on J-STAGE: June 08, 2025
    JOURNAL FREE ACCESS

    In recent years, before the enterprise system development orders, user companies are required to submit RFP to system development companies. After the submission of RFI, RFP, the RFQ is conducted and final system development companies are selected. Then, work such as feasibility study, requirements definition exists, but the authors are aware that clear isolation of working process of these has not been made, and we have confusion in the system development. It is an object of the present study to be brought about problems that may occur therein, and the difference of definition in feasibility study and requirements are clear.

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  • Koichi NISHIKAWA
    2014Volume 20Issue 2 Pages 106-111
    Published: 2014
    Released on J-STAGE: June 08, 2025
    JOURNAL FREE ACCESS

     In b to b sales of industry goods, we need to change the conventional sales methods focused on the idea of “how to sell goods or services” to the ones focused on the idea of “how to think and solve customers’ problems”.

     Especially in SME, they are still making a point of selling their goods or services, and depend largely on sales representatives’ individual skills and experience. The reason is that they do not teach logical thinking as a sales skill to sales representatives and it is not used in the sales field .

     In this study, I suggest a methodology of sales that is how front-line sales representatives should use the logical thinking effectively when dealing with various problems and how they should combine it with hypothesis thinking and.

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  • Masao KUMA
    2014Volume 20Issue 2 Pages 112-118
    Published: 2014
    Released on J-STAGE: June 08, 2025
    JOURNAL FREE ACCESS

     Experience is important for talented people's training. Various operating experiences by rotation have contributed to talented people's training greatly. However, there is a problem of sectionalism in rotation. It is difficult that talented people who can analyze corporate activity by company-wide viewpoint are raised by the rotation. Then, it referred to the viewpoint of the business process in BPR.I considered the conditions of training talented people who exceeds the organization and can analyze business from a company-wide viewpoint.

     Next, the problem of "a generalist's training talented people", "the talented people of an information system section", and "CIO talented people" was considered on the assumption that the vertical division education of the present business. It supplemented with each talented people's training based on them. And the talented people's training which can reform a business process is proposed.

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  • Yasuo UCHIDA, Seigo MATSUNO, Takao ITO, Makoto SAKAMOTO
    2014Volume 20Issue 2 Pages 119-124
    Published: 2014
    Released on J-STAGE: June 08, 2025
    JOURNAL FREE ACCESS

    Even if it is the information infrastructure of small and medium enterprise, in today's information system, the system that the stable operative restoration that, alternatively, is quick is possible has been bought under the crisis such as the former East Japan great earthquake disaster. The use of the cloud in small and medium enterprise is still dull, and research and development and technological assistance for small and medium enterprise become the urgent problem. However, it is the present conditions that relations with a cloud and the information infrastructure of the small and medium enterprise or the scientific study on future directionality is hardly performed. Therefore we examined the framework of a suitable cloud system in the small and medium enterprise, and we designed it and built a prototype model and inspected it about easiness of the introduction. In addition, we took away a representative open source cloud platform and we compared it about easiness of the introduction and inspected it.

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  • Akihito ZENKE, Chen JIE, Nobutaka ODAKE
    2014Volume 20Issue 2 Pages 125-130
    Published: 2014
    Released on J-STAGE: June 08, 2025
    JOURNAL FREE ACCESS

     The carbon fiber reinforced plastic (CFRP), which has a lot of advantages such as light weight and high strength, still has some issue just like high price and difficulty of machining. The material production of carbon fiber in Japan is more than half of the world. However the market in Japan is still far behind Europe and the US. In recent years, the widely use of CFRP in Boeing 787 became a hot topic, more and more people began to focus on the further expanding use of CFRP. A lot of researches and organizations started to do their best to carry out the industrial applications of CFRP in various regions actively. One of the nation's most popular regions on CFRP activities is Tokai Area in Japan.

     The purpose of this study is to explore the possibility of technological development of the CFRP industry based on the trends of technology and the action of organizations, as well as to clarify the CFRP cluster in the Tokai area in Japan. In this study, through surveying location and business of 142 companies CFRP related companies in Tokai area; we try to find out the relationship between CFRP and existing business, and then try to clarify the development process of new business related to CFRP. As a result, it is easy to see that there is a deep relationship between CFRP molding flow and existing businesses, and location is also linked to the aircraft business. We can finally clarify that it is necessary not only to develop molding technique but also to increase the use for the development of CFRP industry and other related techniques.

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  • Junko OTSUKA, Fumio AKAGI, Fumito UEDA
    2014Volume 20Issue 2 Pages 131-137
    Published: 2014
    Released on J-STAGE: June 08, 2025
    JOURNAL FREE ACCESS

     The iPad is the most popular tablet and quite popular in Japan. In Japan, iPad has shipped more than 19 million in December 2013. We have used iPad to send and receive mail, to see the map, to take pictures and videos, to save the document for viewing. However, we have not used iPad enough in business yet. This study is present about improving business efficiency using iPad. We tried to manage the operation status of tracks using iPad, Facebook, and location-based service.

     We made a secret group, which was able to see by only permitted users, on Facebook. Truck drivers wrote their working, such as Loading, Driving, Unloading, Intermission and Nap, with their location information on the wall in Facebook using iPad. When they could see their location point in location-based information on their wall, they chose it, but when they could not see it, they wrote their location point by themselves. A manager saw their wall, and checked illegal drive. When he found illegal drive or some problems, he gave advice which they should do.

     As a result, a manager could be used to predict the arrival time of the baggage, return time of the truck using iPad, Facebook, and location-based service. Also, comments on the wall was displayed in time series, so a manager could check drivers actions easily. On the other hand, this method was difficult for aged drivers. In a further study, we will make original input forms for each trucking companies using all kinds of tablet devices.

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  • Senji SUZUKI
    2014Volume 20Issue 2 Pages 144-149
    Published: 2014
    Released on J-STAGE: June 08, 2025
    JOURNAL FREE ACCESS

     In connection with the overseas expansion of a domestic major company, it is a situation where small and medium-sized enterprises also have to march out overseas. However, compared with a major company, inferiority enlarges small and medium-sized enterprises for a person, a thing, gold, and information. When these small and medium-sized enterprises did what, management could be started at an early stage smoothly there, or the hint was obtained from the company example.

     By harnessing the management system of ISO 9001:2008 or ISO 14001:2004 which is an international standard showed that business management based there could be realized for a short period of time. Moreover, the management system stuck there can be completed by considering the original system of its company. By building an ISO management system showed that the natives* activation could be performed overseas.

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