Based on my experiences working for and with Japanes companies, *I* have expereinced the following
1. Not all japanese companies are the same and they have variable quality outputs just like the rest of us.
2. They have a highly regimented society that takes direction really well.
3. There IS politics - it just looks different as their cultural behavioral norms are different from western society. All of the negotiation occurs outside the conference room where all is polite and 'seemingly politics free'.
4. The companies with solid quality and reliable products typically make changes to processes and products very slowly. Honda and Toyota for example.
5. In the automotive world, the japanese companies often had as many field problems as other US made vehicles - but they did more 'hidden recalls' fixing teh problem when you brought your car in for an oil change...
6. They too torture their suppliers with with process validation equipment selection etc. It just looks different. you can't get low variation without discipline to process. That slow change is long validation.
6. Some companies use SPC, DOE etc. ('six sigma') others don't. I've seen some Japanese R&D organizations run 1000 one factor random experiments and I've seen others run tightly designed efficient experiments - just like western companies.
A GREAT book on this topic is "The Myths About Japanese Quality" by Eberts Eberts.
1. Not all japanese companies are the same and they have variable quality outputs just like the rest of us.
2. They have a highly regimented society that takes direction really well.
3. There IS politics - it just looks different as their cultural behavioral norms are different from western society. All of the negotiation occurs outside the conference room where all is polite and 'seemingly politics free'.
4. The companies with solid quality and reliable products typically make changes to processes and products very slowly. Honda and Toyota for example.
5. In the automotive world, the japanese companies often had as many field problems as other US made vehicles - but they did more 'hidden recalls' fixing teh problem when you brought your car in for an oil change...
6. They too torture their suppliers with with process validation equipment selection etc. It just looks different. you can't get low variation without discipline to process. That slow change is long validation.
6. Some companies use SPC, DOE etc. ('six sigma') others don't. I've seen some Japanese R&D organizations run 1000 one factor random experiments and I've seen others run tightly designed efficient experiments - just like western companies.
A GREAT book on this topic is "The Myths About Japanese Quality" by Eberts Eberts.