When I visited Japan, I had an opportunity to talk with people who worked for a small manufacturing company. According to them, the small companies’ business in Japan were still in slump even though the macro economy showed prosperity.
However the slump of small companies, they were very positively working hard to reduce further cost and improve their product quality. They were full of spirit and vivacity. I thought that such hardworking, diligence and continuous effort by Japanese were the driving forces which once made Japan as No. 1 in the manufacturing world in the old days – probably 30 years ago.
In the old days, there was no competitor of Japan in the market in terms of hardworking, diligence and continuous effort, and the competitiveness in the market was not so severe. Because of such market condition, the advantages of Japanese were a strong weapon for beating the competitors in other countries, and Japanese products once occupied the markets in the world.
Now, they were feeling locked up and hitting a wall of cost down, and improving quality, productivity, efficiency, speed-up, etc. Especially the cost down, it was getting harder and harder because of catching up by China and Korea.
Also in terms of hardworking and diligences, China, Korea and India could be better than Japan now. Actually the advantage of Japanese products have gone away in technology and quality. The Japanese hardworking and diligence alone are not a strong weapon in the market anymore. As a Japanese I feel sorry about such situation, but this is the reality right now.
How can Japan catch up the rapid change in the market, and lead the market once more? There could be many brilliant ideas, but my idea is nothing special. I think that Japan should positively apply a new thinking process and a new methodology for developing a new product and a new services.
Japan has already developed the advanced skill and the deep knowledge in many industries. Such skills and knowledge are the great advantages of Japan, however, they tend to hesitate adopting a systematic thinking with a broad view of the general situation.
Japanese companies in general seem to be inflexible to adopt a new concept or a new methodology. They typically show resistance to a new thing especially when it comes from another country with English language (Venture company is an exception, and a new product such as iPhone is another exception). However to catch up the world, Japan should positively adopt a new concept and a methodology regardless of the language and the origin of country.
If they replace their old methodology to a new one, and integrate the new one with their established skills and knowledge, they will provide a new product or a new service with further high quality, low cost and short delivery time.
But, what is the new one?
I believe that the new one could be a problem-solving framework which is a systematic or a scientific thinking process. If people use a problem-solving framework, they can achieve a higher level of result with less deviation. The problem-solving framework doesn’t need a special talent. Ordinary people can solve a problem effectively with it. That is an advantage of the problem-solving framework.
I like Lean, Six Sigma and DFSS (Design for Six Sigma) as a problem-solving framework. They make sense to me the most, and actually there are many success stories with Lean, Six Sigma and DFSS in the world. Why not in Japan?
I know that there are also many companies who failed in Lean Six Sigma. But they failed in operation or utilization of Lean Six Sigma. The problem is not the Lean Six Sigma itself. Operating or utilizing Lean Six Sigma is much harder than implementing Lean Six Sigma.
I believe that operating or utilizing Lean Six Sigma is not so hard for Japanese if they use their advantages (i.e., hardworking, diligence and continuous effort). What they need to do is just to adopt Lean Six Sigma in addition to their advantages. If they can, they will catch up the world, occupy the market, and shine once more very soon.