ABSTRACT
The roots of Japanese success in the auto industry lie in the evolutionary development and perfection of a unique system of production organization in which flexibility and change substituted for standardization and status. This chapter focuses both on empirical research in Japan and on the wider literature to explore the key characteristics of the Japanese model and the developments which are pushing it in the direction of systemofacture. The most striking feature is that Japanese auto producers enjoy a substantially higher degree of labour productivity for every category of employee compared to the United States and Western European firms. If the Fordist labour process was built around unchanging production structures the Japanese alternative in the auto industry is focused on flexibility in manufacturing process and in work. The Japanese system of motor vehicle manufacture is commonly referred to as Just-In-Time (JIT) production. Once a JIT structure is adopted, zero-defect policies must be utilized.
