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Much of the success of post-war Japanese manufacturers depended on the
availability of dedicated skilled workers whose expertise and
experience kept churning out high quality products globally and
running the plants at the top efficiency.
Nicknamed “Generation Dankai” (army of boomers), these
first-generation post-war baby boomers, now in their late 50s, have
been invaluable assets to their companies and the nation’s industrial
strength.
Even though they account for only about 10% of the nation’s entire
workforce, Generation Dankai represents a significant percentage of
skilled labor in manufacturing – as much as 40% at some companies.
This is because the nation’s prolonged recession in the last decades
put a brake on hiring and as a result companies are stretched thin on
crucial middle-aged workers. Japanese manufacturers are now racing
against time to train young workers before Generation Dankai hits
retirement age en masse, estimated to start at 2007.
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For example, a textile producer, Teijin, appointed about 70
veteran employees in their late 50s as factory floor leaders. They
are paid up to $2,500 extra to pass down their expertise to
younger workers, such as how to keep machines running at maximum
efficiency. Other companies are overhauling employee training
programs, rehiring retired workers as full-time instructors,
standardizing training programs, or even adding trainer lines to
existing plants or setting up “mother plants” near R&D centers to
serve as cutting-edge production training centers for young
workers as well as for overseas factories. [The Nikkei Weekly,
April 24, 2006]
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Companies are also renewing their appreciation for QFD. They see
it as a natural tool for managing and transferring the internal
know-how to the next generation of workers because of QFD’s
ability to document, organize, and communicate complex ideas
system-wide.
“The R&D process results in knowledge. Usually a great deal of
this knowledge remains tacit. Tacit knowledge obviously is a
concealed source of competitive advantage. To reveal their
knowledge, employees need a means of communication. QFD will be
suggested to serve as a communication structure.” [Greald Henstra,
Jo M. L. van Engelen, University of Groningen, The Netherlands,
1999 Symposium on QFD]
A presenter from Toshiba Systems & Software Research Lab proposed
the concept of “QFD Database,” a network structure which connects
all information systematically, allowing all shareholders in
product planning and design to share internally accumulated
intellectual property. “All information obtained through the QFD
process can be stored into a QFD Database and shared among
projects. When we develop a new product, we can refer to the
information of similar products in the past and use it as a
template. This will allow us to concentrate on the new, dissimilar
features of a new product, thereby cutting down the development
time.” [K. Noguchi, 1998 Symposium on QFD]
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Experienced companies in Japan have used QFD documents to
pro-actively identify and prevent potential problems in a new
product. Kawasaki Heavy Industry reported, “In the past, our QA
activities concentrated on recurrence prevention of manufacturing
quality problems. An analysis result revealed, however, that
majority of the causes that brought out defects could be
attributed to upstream process of Design, Contract, Procurement,
and so forth. We use QFD to strengthen our quality assurance in
design process. Also, if a claim occurs with a product, we can go
back to the QFD records and trace back where we might have
overlooked, correct the problem quickly, and prevent a similar
problem in a future product.” [S. Yamamoto, 1996 Symposium on QFD]
U.S. companies, too, are recognizing the value of QFD to document
“tribal knowledge,” i.e., the tacit knowledge accumulated by
soon-to-be retirees, before they head into their golden years. A
“doughnut” hole in hiring levels over the past two decades must be
filled, or companies may suffer a serious loss of experience and
know-how. |
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