The Industrial Organisation, the Social Organisation of Work and Workers in the Automobile Industry

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The aim of this projects is to make clear what changes are now taking place in the Japanese automobile industry at four phases, firstly the production system, secondly corporate and inter-corporate organisation, thirdly workers' life and social consciousness and fourthly the industrial relations.In the 1990's Japanese automobile makers are situated in conditions where global economic competition is becoming more and more severe, the arrangement of car production becomes global and the domestic car market reaches mature situation. The great advantage of competitiveness of Japanese car makers was the ability to complete Kaizen, to improve continuously at shop floor level. As environment of Japanese car makers are changing rapidly, they are moving their main target from the shop floor level to all corporate levels of not only R&D but also production and car sales. Before, the volume of car production in Japan grew straight year after year with a very small exception. But, now it changes up and down year by year. Japanese car makers have tried to make more flexible production system to keep up with the new trend of a stagnation or a decrease of car production volume.The new production concept of 'car plant friendly to workers and environment' is one of the measures of the total rationalization from R&D to production and sales in the new situation of car production and market mentioned above. Major Japanese car makers in the 1990's continue to improve environmemtal conditions of car plant, to introduce automatic machines into assembly line, and to restructure their social organisation of work in assembly line according to new concept of 'completed process'.