Japan's auto maker will win the supply chain wars
The long-lasting headache; supply chain
Recent New York Times article reported the legacy of Henry Ford as the godfather of mass production.
The main point of the report is the fact that supply chain has long been a headache of mass production system.
Yes, human-beings have been plagued by the shortage of parts and resources.
Even the big boss couldn’t help it.
Henry Ford then, the paper said, came to be obsessed with controlling all aspects of production.
I wonder if he could have been successful in doing that.
Gunho as a must-see movie
This reminds me of the 1983 movie “Gunho” in which an American automobile factory chief struggled with cultural conflicts between an American auto factory and the Japanese counterpart.
He was the typical middle managers between Japanese management and American subordinates.
The movie focused the contrast the Japanese stereotypes of being obedience and the American ones of being independent.
Henry Ford should have found it much comfortable controlling with Japanese auto workers then.
This also reminds me of the zero-defect movement once in fad 30 years ago where Japanese workers voluntarily went for perfect in production line.
American auto workers would never have done the same because their contracts never push them that way.
A scene in Ganho showed American auto workers never do morning exercises which are mandatory executed by the management.
Despite culture gaps, workers can be controlled, but not supply chain.
Such a tricky one
The most popular Ford F150 pickup trucks now remain on the stockpile waiting for semiconductors to be installed.
The founder of Ford must have started to make his own chips(semiconductor) but experts say that would not be possible.
Because chips are tricky.
They come in so many varieties, for example.
There are 800 different chips used in a truck.
Saving them necessitates delicate handlings because of short longevities.
I wonder why Ford has relied on a single semiconductor supplier in Taiwan.
It's maybe due to unobtainable skills to take care of the tough materials.
All of the auto manufactures are now suffering chips shortage.
Which will win?
I bet Japan, because of cohesiveness.
Henry Ford hated unions and even stockholders.
Since then, there has existed hostility between workers and management.
But not Japan.
In times of uncertainty, harmony wins over hostility.
It does take team work to gather together semi conductors with all the efforts.
I believe unity of workers helps auto companies conquer the supply chain wars as Japanese ones already shows.
Ichiro Noro
Professor , Seiwa University , Japan
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