Japanese Manufacturing Techniques and Practices: An Indian Perspective

With rapid advancement in technology and availability of workforce at reasonable wages, India is becoming a preferred location for manufacturing companies from all over the world. The manufacturing sector in India has witnessed a growth of about 15 percent during the year 2007. Japanese techniques like kaizen, quality circles, total productive maintenance, and just-in-time, etc. have been implemented worldwide by various manufacturing organizations to improve their performance and competitiveness. The extent of success achieved has, however, been influenced significantly by the structure and culture of the organization concerned and the country as well. The present article attempts to study the experiences of a few selected Indian manufacturing organizations, operating in and around New Delhi region, regarding the implementation and adaptability of popular Japanese manufacturing techniques and practices. A structured questionnaire containing both open and close-ended questions is used for data collection. The results are obtained using descriptive analysis, hypothesis testing, and correlation analysis. Though implementation of Japanese manufacturing techniques and practices (JMTPs) has resulted in improvement of various production-related dimensions and other benefits, there is still a need to understand how to harbor such techniques and practices for the long-term growth and benefit of the organizations on the whole.