erican firms, in many instances, to reduce transportation costs.
At times, however, foreign production creates problems with respect to product quality, which, in turn increases the ultimate cost of production. To counter this problem, American firms must provide strong on site management and training.
For American production of goods for exports, Americanfirms have attacked the cost of production problem through a strategy involving a shift in emphasis in manufacturing manage ment. In the recent past, the emphasis in manufacturing man agement was on materials inventories, ordering and production lead times, labor and material efficiency, work in progress (WIP) levels, finished goods inventories, and so forth. The emerging emphasis in American manufacturing is on just in time 3(JIT) techniques. JIT production techniques emphasize the elimination of waste, which is defined as "any activity per formed within a manufacturing company which does not add value to the product" (Maskell, 1986b, p. 32). Within the parameters of this definition of waste are inventories, materials hand ling, quality problems, queues, shop floor delays, lead times, and unnecessary clerical and accounting procedures (Maskell, 1986a). The elimination or minimization of inventories, lead times, and so forth creates a need for radical changes in the approach to manufacturing management.
The introduction of advanced technology into American manufacturing demanded a new approach to manufacturing man agement, before it could be effectively employed. This new approach was borrowed from the Japanese. It is called Kahn Bahn by the Japanese, and it is referred to as JIT in the United States. JIT is a radically different manufacturing management philosophy (Sadhwani, Sarhan, & Kiringoda, 1985), which demands (1) flexibility on the shop floor, and (2) flexibility in managerial practices (Holbrook, 1985), because many traditional characteristics of ...