A Japanese Automobile Company in the United States
No study appears to exist that makes a direct comparison between American and Japanese automobile companied in the United States. However, Shimada Haruo’s research on New United Motor Manufacturing Incorporated (NUMMI), the joint venture between Toyota and General Motors, comes close. Unlike Takamiya and Trevor, Shimada does not directly compare Japanese and American plants. NUMMI’s antecedent, though, was GM’s Fremont plant, whose employees were retained and whose machinery differed only slightly. The contrast with the GM period probably provides a more rigorous basis for comparison. And instead of questionnaires, the method used was to enter the workshops and interview American workers.
Ishida Mitsuo, on the other hand, draw attention to these factors in his study of Japanese automobile factories in the United States. Although he offered no comparison with local U.S. plants, he provided a detailed look at the overseas workshops of Japanese companies, the skills involved and their formation, development and rotation, compensation, and other personnel policies of promotions or merit rating to stimulate the formation of skills for dealing with problems.