ABSTRACT
This chapter demonstrates how American business was taking important steps to improve productivity and competitiveness. For a variety of reasons—most notably to keep up with foreign competition—many American business firms have been reducing their costs of production. Several American companies have adopted the Japanese just-in-time inventory system, which provides components as needed instead of having large batches made in advance and stored. Price reductions forcing cost containment are the dominant response American firms make to import pressures. The enhanced concern with improving quality in American industry has not been primarily a matter of setting up new quality control departments or even expanding existing ones. Companies in the US traditionally devoted far more resources to quality-control efforts than did their foreign counterparts. Moreover, quality assurance is more than just a collection of expensive scientific and professional personnel who checks, reviews, and improves production practices.
