Taiichi Ohnos Workplace Management by Ohno Taiichi

Author:Ohno, Taiichi [Ohno, Taiichi]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: McGraw-Hill
Published: 2012-11-20T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 24

Fight the Robot Fad

“Limited volume production” is an expression we began using in 1973 after the first oil shock. Until then, we could sell as many as we could build, so it was relatively easy to reduce cost through mass production. However, in 1973, automobile production temporarily dropped a little. There are many industries whose volumes have kept dropping ever since. But no matter how much I tell this to people in the automotive industry, they just don’t understand. They are not thinking about slimming down at all. To be blunt, I believe to this day that automotive companies work as if costs going up or down do not matter as long as they can get the orders and produce in large volumes.

Due to international trade friction, exports will be restricted starting this year.34 When this happens, we cannot just say that we will make up the difference in domestic sales, because it is not as if domestic demand will grow indefinitely. This is why unless the automotive industry takes the question of limited volumes and how to produce at a lower cost seriously there will be companies who live to regret it. As far as lowering cost through producing large volumes, they all have experience with that.

The very foundation is “how to produce at a lower cost” and this is essential. It is wrong to skip over this foundation to pursue high performance using robots or automation. I suppose people install robots in part because it is a fad. They install robots to keep up appearances, or to say they have reduced man-hours. I wonder whether many times they do this without thinking too much about whether the cost was increased.

It may seem like we are opposed to robots, but whether we are talking about robots or computer systems, progress is necessary. But we must be careful not to ignore the question of how much cost was reduced when we implement computer systems or robots. Perhaps I am being a nuisance to robot manufacturers by saying this. There is an English person who said that robots and automation ought to be internationally banned by the year 2000. If you consider this, it may be good to get them while you can, in case you cannot when you need them.

When I said in China that they should not modernize, they objected, asking why should China not use robots, when in Japan there were many robots in use. They have so many people in China, why do they need robots? Using robots solely in the name of modernization is not right.

Even in Japan today, robots and NC35 equipment are selling very well, but the important question is whether these things are really reducing cost. In the days when you can sell everything that you produce, it is okay. If it was not limited volume production, there are probably many situations where using robots would certainly reduce cost.

Certainly man-hours will be reduced when you use robots. If you calculate manufacturing cost based on man-hours, the production cost will be very low.

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