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Automation and the Organization of Production in the Japanese Automobile Industry: Nissan and Toyota in the 1950s

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  18 September 2015

Eisuke Daito
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Abstract

Rather than appearing full-blown in the 1970s, flexible production techniques were developed gradually in the Japanese automobile industry. After World War II, drawing on indigenous expertise derived from the cotton textile and aircraft industries, pioneering automakers Nissan and Toyota adapted Western-style automation technology, particularly transfer machines, to local conditions. In addition to building flexibility into as many aspects of this inherently inflexible technology as possible, manufacturers also worked to adapt labor and supplier relations to the needs of the new technology within the constraints of the local environment.

Type
Articles
Information
Enterprise & Society , Volume 1 , Issue 1 , March 2000 , pp. 139 - 178
Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s) 2000. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of the Business History Conference. All rights reserved.

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