ABSTRACT
Shigeo Shingo has made substantial contributions to the rapid growth and success of Japan's manufacturing sector since the end of Second World War. Dr. Shingo's Single-Minute Exchange of Die (SMED) system permits many kinds of setup operations to be performed in minutes rather than hours. The concept of Just-in-Time originated with Kiichiro Toyoda, the first president of Toyota Motor Corporation, which was created when Toyoda Automatic Looms spun off its truck division in 1936. The average reduction in setup time reported in a 1986 survey of 120 companies applying the SMED system was ninety-eight percent. The concept of poka-yoke is at the heart of zero-defect manufacturing. The word kaizen, the Japanese for "continuous improvement," is used a number of times in the contract, and New United Motor Manufacturing Incorporated is committed never to lay off workers when productivity is raised. Waste of movement has been well studied since the inception of "Scientific Management" at the turn of the twentieth century.
