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Japanesefirmshaveachievedthehighestlevelsofmanufacturingefficiencyintheworldautomobileindustry。SomeobserversofJapanhaveassumedthatJapanesefirmsusethesamemanufacturingequipmentandtechniquesasUnitedStatesfirmsbuthavebenefitedfromtheuniquecharacteristicsofJapaneseemployeesandtheJapaneseculture。However，ifthisweretrue，thenonewouldexpectJapaneseautoplantsintheUnitedStatestoperformnobetterthanfactoriesrunbyUnitedStatescompanies。Thisisnotthecase。Japanese－runautomobileplantslocatedintheUnitedStatesandstaffedbylocalworkershavedemonstratedhigherlevelsofproductivitywhencomparedwithfactoriesownedbyUnitedStatescompanies。

OtherobserverslinkhighJapaneseproductivitytohigherlevelsofcapitalinvestmentperworker。Butahistoricalperspectiveleadstoadifferentconclusion。WhenthetwotopJapaneseautomobilemakersmatchedandthendoubledUnitedStatesproductivitylevelsinthemid－sixties，capitalinvestmentperemployeewascomparabletothatofUnitedStatesfirms。Furthermore，bythelateseventies，theamountoffixedassetsrequiredtoproduceonevehiclewasroughlyequivalentinJapanandintheUnitedStates。SincecapitalinvestmentwasnothigherinJapan，ithadtobeotherfactorsthatledtohigherproductivity。

AmorefruitfulexplanationmayliewithJapaneseproductiontechniques。Japaneseautomobileproducersdidnotsimplyimplementconventionalprocessesmoreeffectively，theymadecriticalchangeinUnitedStatesprocedures。Forinstance，themass－productionphilosophyofUnitedStatesautomakersencouragedtheproductionofhugelotsofcarsinordertoutilizefullyexpensive，component－specificequipmentandtooccupyfullyworkerswhohavebeentrainedtoexecuteoneoperationefficiently。Japaneseautomakerschosetomakesmall－lotproductionfeasiblebyintroducingseveraldeparturesfromUnitedStatespractices，includingtheuseofflexibleequipmentthatcouldbealteredeasilytodoseveraldifferentproductiontasksandthetrainingofworkersinmultiplejobs。Automakerscouldscheduletheproductionofdifferentcomponentsormodelsonsinglemachines，therebyeliminatingtheneedtostorethesparestocksofextracomponentsthatresultwhenspecializedequipmentandworkersarekeptconstantlyactive。

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46。一些日本观察家认为，尽管日本公司使用与美国公司一样的制造设备和工艺方法，但却由于日本雇员和日本文化的独有特征而受益匪浅。

47。设在美国并雇用当地工人的由日本人开办的汽车厂，与美国公司拥有的汽车厂相比，其生产效率要高得多。

48。20世纪60年代中期，两家最大的日本汽车制造商开始与美国的生产效率并驾齐驱，而后来则为美国生产效率的两倍，而每位员工计算的资金投入却与美国不相上下。

49。例如，美国汽车制造商的规模生产的经营方针鼓励大量生产汽车，以便充分利用价格昂贵的零件专用设备并使受过培训、高效操作某一生产程序的工人不停的干活。

50。汽车工人能够在一台机器上安排生产不同零件或不同型号的部件，这样就不必额外储存部件作为备用件，而当专用设备和专业工人不停的工作时，就必须有这种备用件的储存。