Sunday, November 17, 2013

Industrial Engineering - Efficiency Improvement in Japan - History

It is an interesting history compiled from the translated versions from Japanese. Some portions have to be still edited for clarity.



 Yoichi Ueno graduated from Tokyo Imperial University psychology subject 1903. However, Ueno who did not like to play with abstract theory, shifted to the study of the application of  psychology. He moved into areas  advertisement psychology, aptitude test and psychology  and gradually shifted to efficiency study.
 Psychology is study of human behavior, and efficiency is the result of human behavior or characteristic of human behavior. Ueno appreciated and like the  scientific administration of Taylor, Taylor died in 1915. Ueno was impressed by  time and motion studies of work of American F.B. Gilbreth. He also followed the achievements of Emerson,Bath, and studied their papers and tried to introduce them  to Nihon Sangyo.

 Ueno helped in the  spread of this scientific administration activity efficiency campaign and also the Efficiency  principles, which Emerson advocated.
 However, Ueno acted as an enlightenment diffuser of this efficiency principles. He acted as management consultant,  author,  teacher, and above all as a  thinker.

 The practice of efficiency was there in Japan for a long time. The practice that hang in Showa in one factor that it adapts in condition and climate of Nihon Sangyo at the time and was able to give effect to from the early days in the Taisho era, and existed. And would it not be thought of Japanese-style efficiency that couldn't help pursuing improvement innovation again and the use? There is bright honor said to be "Ueno of Public" in 3 leaders in efficiency world here.

 Ueno developed in field of industry efficiency after watching an article of way to  study human movement using photograph in an American magazine during university attendance at school in around 1907. With great interest to learn it further, he sent a direct letter to Gilbreth who is the founder of Motion Study. The correspondence continued afterward and deepened friendship deepened. Mrs. Gilbreth was a psychologist and she sent many documents to Ueno, and Ueno made full use of it and published "psychology of person and business efficiency" from that content in 1919. Of course he introduced time and motion studies of work in that.

 Furthermore,  Ueno met  Gilbreth  when Ueno went for European and American inspection on behalf of  the Ministry of Agriculture and Commerce in 1921. During that visit, in a meeting of The Society of Industrial Engineers held in Chicago, Gilbreth let Ueno talk about "efficiency exercise of Japan". , and when what we invited's first honorary member committee Yoichi Ueno from Japan which approved of purpose of this meeting to was powerful at all and was great joy. Ueno continued friendship with Lillian Gilbreth after Gilbreth's death in 1924.

Taylor's ideas were first introduced to Japan in February 1911 with the publication of a book written by Ikeda Toshiro titled "Mueki no tesu O habuku hiketsu" (The Secret of Reducing Futile Labor). The saying is that about a million and half copies of this small booklet or phamplet was bought in Japan. The Japanese industrialists were so eager to know about it. In 1913, the full book, The Principles of Scientific Management, was translated into Japanese by Hoshino Yukinori and was published as Gakujiteki Jigyo Kanriho.

Interest in scientific administration and its founder Frederick Winslow Taylor increased rapidly, when a special feature in the extra edition of the magazine "business world" was brought out by  Jujiro Izeki, chief editor of the magazine.
 
It is a series of things that developed interest in scientific administration, and time and motion studies of Gilbreth and it gave life to the study of industrial efficiency in Japan.

 
http://www.jma.or.jp.e.is.hp.transer.com/activity/series01-03-01.html



Among Taylor’s foreign students were the Japanese. Yukinori Hoshino, a bank director from Osaka, was visiting the United States in 1911, when scientific management was much in the public eye. He sought and received permission to translate one of Taylor’s books, which was published in Japan in 1913. Soon Japanese students, industrialists and educators were making the pilgrimage to Taylor’s estate and touring his showcase companies. Japanese shipyards, cotton mills and government factories launched time studies and other experiments in scientific management.

In 1923 the Mitsubishi Electric Company reached a technical cooperative agreement with Westinghouse to
send people to the United States to learn time-study methods. The delegates from Mitsubishi analyzed
hundreds of the tasks involved in the manufacturing of electric fans and soon were spreading the new techniques throughout Japan. And Taylor’s disciples visited Japan, to lecture, to inspect factories and otherwise to help guide the embryonic movement. In 1961, when Taylor’s son Robert visited Japan, executives of the Toshiba Corporation were enquiring for memetoes of Taylor,  a pencil, a picture, anything that had been associated with his father, "something that Fred Taylor had touched or handled."

Taylor-made(19th-century efficiency expert Frederick Taylor) by Robert Kanigel, The Sciences May 1997 v37 i3 p18(1), pp.1-5.






Ueno was giving lectures in Waseda University administration course, Ueno was  in-house education lectures  by Director of the Lion Toothbrushing main office. When the lecture was completed, he was asked  to study the factory efficiency. He has to wrestle for work improvement of bag filling factory of powder toothbrushes. He was 36-year-old time (1920) in 1920. He studied books in various ways, but he had no practical experience in  real efficiency improvement.

He was not able to sleep the previous night for his first visit to factory. Ueno studied times  by stopwatch for 15 girl workers, changed placement for assembly line, established break for 15 minutes at 10:00 and 3:00, and brought forward  45 minutes closing time  and gave  30 minutes for the lunch break. The actual working hours of the day were shortened by one hour, but  Ueno  succeeded in increasing the amount of production 20% up of the day, area used reduced by  30%, and savings half-finished goods also realized.

And he emphasized that you should distribute profit brought by such an efficiency study into incentives for manager, consumers, worker and efficiency study and suggested.

This  example of Llion Toothbrushing in chart  was in 1921 shown in Osaka "factory administration class" hosted by the chamber of commerce in 1921. This explanation impressed Osaka chamber of commerce vice-president Taichi Nakayama and consultancy assignments in  Sun Temple (club cosmetics), Fukusuke Tabi were undertaken  and enlightenment spread through the results.


These  Osaka consultancies converted Ueno from teacher  of scientific administration to full-scale practitioner of efficiency improvement. This made him  temporary efficiency section manager at the Osaka Mint Bureau and as  duty, he spent  for an average of three days in month from 1925. Understanding and support of Taichi Nakayama in particular are said to have contributed to the practice and study of industrial efficiency of Ueno very much.

The establishment of cooperation society industry efficiency research institute

 Sakae, Shibusawa, Iesato Tokugawa become promoter to deal with labor movement that cooperation party suddenly developed (1919) from the World War I direct next in 1919 and are foundation established as research engine to plan cooperation harmony of the labor and management as super hierarchic engine of semi-governmental management.

 ILO (I.L.O.) was established in (1919) in 1919, and Japan joined to progress of the industrialization promptly in the same year. It is the right in the same year that cooperation society was established.

 "Cooperation" is not to talk about merely things for trying. It is necessary we study way of thinking of scientific administration, and to spread that it is more necessary to think about how we should do to increase and to bend and collect the profit before thinking that we do profit that the labor and management got for note.
Preparation for the industrial efficiency research institute establishment in Cooperation Society was made by  saying that efficiency improvement of factory provides the  base of union-management cooperation. It was suggested that the director be Yoichi Ueno for the efficiency research institute. . Cooperation society pushed forward the proposal for this establishment. The Ministry of Agriculture and Commerce agreed and dispatched Ueno for European and American factory inspection study. On his return, Ueno was appointed as Manager of  Cooperation Society Industry Efficiency Research Institute. In 1922, 39-year-old Ueno took charge of the responsibility.

 We want to add that the institute wasstarted by recognition that efficiency  is the issue of management in corporate management in particular it is an issue related to labor and management.

 However, with the Great Kanto Earthquake of 1923, this would be closed, but  it was succeeded by Nihon Sangyo Efficiency Research Institute in cooperation hall in 1925.  Ueno did study, publication, lecture, class, consultation, diagnosis about efficiency and training and education with the activity contents afterwards.


Start of Japanese efficiency alliance society

 In  Osaka, Kanagawa, Hamamatsu, Aichi, Ehime, Hyogo, Manchurian, and  Tokyo efficiency meetings for the study have taken place and associations for the purpose of efficiency study and the practice have been established in each place. Ueno  had contributed to the establishment directly or indirectly.

 It was intended to start Japan efficiency alliance society to make nationwide coalition of these groups to increase of our country's industry efficiency.

 Publication of  monthly "industry efficiency" was planned.
 In addition, in 1929, they we attended scientific management international Committee meet (CIOS) as representative of alliance society globally and also they organized United States industry inspection team by invitation of the Taylor association headquarters in 1930 and play an active part as the head inside and out, They planned to bring out  "efficiency handbook" for scientific administration for Japan which plans publication of "the tailor complete works" after returning home, and based on Japanese circumstances in publication, It took seven years to publish it in 1941, but it was an  extremely valuable document in history of management efficiency in Japan.  Takuo Godou, Okiie Yamashita sent preface to this "efficiency handbook".

In March 1942,  the Japan Management Association (JMA) was established as an organization to promote that concept, based on IE and other management methods.
 
However, Ueno established Japanese efficiency school in the ground of Todoroki, Tokyo in April of the year and then started current industrial efficiency junior college, forerunner of industry efficiency University. The Japan Management Association  had as chairperson Takuo Godou, and as  President Kakuzo Morikawa. But Ueno participated in this organization as Counselor.

Incarnation of original efficiency concept

 In 1935, Ueno launched monthly magazine called "ochibo" from Nihon Sangyo efficiency research institute,
 And later industrial efficiency theory, basics of business administration are developed in this.

(1) What kind of thing is efficiency?
 Efficiency means using rational methods for  achieving a purpose. If means (resources) is too bigger than purpose, "it is waste" and "is unreasonableness" if too small.

(2) Wrong efficiency concept
 It is not efficiency not thing forcing effort without aim with efficiency to do most even more. Efficiency is thing which should be accomplished not thing which you should increase, and only this is principle not principles as much as possible. (not clear. Needs to changed)

(3) As for the idea of efficiency, the origin is the same as Orient-like religion morality
 Without "unreasonableness,"  and  without "waste".  In other words, basic principle of efficiency accords with teaching of moderation by  Buddha and Confucius.

(4) Scientific administration is method to discover way (as standard equipment) of the inside, and to enforce this
 It is efficiency to show the "equities" in 100%, and everything (financial resources) discovers the "equities", and study to clarify (process) in process is scientific administration. (Not clear needs to be changed)

(5) There are three in order to perform scientific  administration for efficiency
 The first stage: Plan……Make standard
 The second stage: Enforcement……Carry out
 The third stage: Control……Control enforcement in light of standard

(6) 3mu - Conquer  "unreasonableness",  "waste" and "irregularity" with efficiency study. That pursuit discovers right way.

http://www.jma.or.jp.e.is.hp.transer.com/activity/series01-03-03.html



Approach and efficiency way to Orient thought

 Ueno connected way of thinking of  Taylor with Buddhism and Confucianism.

 Scientific administration discovers fairmess. "Efficiency way" or fairness is Buddhist doctrine. In monthly "ochibo," number of articles appeared to promote the "efficiency way" to improve the simple ratuio (Ratio of out put/in put).

 The essence of Buddhist doctrine  - It is efficiency when you  "omit waste, and  remove unreasonableness, and protect moderation, and walk moderation".

Postwar Ueno and creativity development

  Kiyoshi Asai, Okiie Yamashita, and Yoichi Ueno would take office as personnel affairs officials as the later National Personnel Authority to reform Japanese public employee system on request from Japanese Government as postwar activity fundamentally in 1946, but the results of Ueno more than 40 years were 64 years old with thing evaluated from both the United States and Japanese Government at this time.

 We contributed to efficiency school resumption (1946) in Japan, the establishment (1950) of industrial efficiency junior college, organization (1949) of federation of all-Japan efficiency, the establishment (1951) of Japan management consultant society, and there was efficiency activity in level of tentative completion because of the important post, but Ueno has begun to wrestle for problem new once again afterwards.

 It is about 1955. It published general enlightenment book and technical book by "development of originality" in sequence, but it was the last interval of Ueno that approached "what human being was", and, "science for solution to the problem," theme called creativity development was answer more.

 Ueno died at the age of  74-years  in October, 1957.

http://www.jma.or.jp.e.is.hp.transer.com/activity/series01-03-04.html

http://www.jma.or.jp.e.is.hp.transer.com/activity/series-01.html

(It is an interesting history compiled from the translated versions from Japanese. Some portions have to be still edited for clarity.)



Good description of spread of Scientific management in Japan was in the book
Distortion in the Study of Japanese Modern and Contemporary Economic History Pp. 75
Google book link http://books.google.co.in/books?id=RNycyM_xjDYC

Another description of efficiency movement in Japan
Management, Education and Competitiveness: Europe, Japan and the United States, Pp. 102-103
Google Book Link - http://books.google.co.in/books?id=PQYLQxgG_UQC


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