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Mass customisation aims at supplying individualised products to a wide customer base, while achieving costs comparable to mass production. However, the degree of individualisation of mass customised products is limited. Certain companies achieve to combine the high product individuality provided by the engineer-to-order concept with the efficiency of mass customisation. By using web-based technologies, these companies integrate the customer into their order processing. Through a digital frontend, the customer is enabled to configure, lay out or design the desired individual product within a defined product solution space. In combination with an automated production preparation and a production process capable for the entire solution space, these companies produce individual products within shortest lead times at low costs. Due to the combination of high product individuality at extremely short lead times as well as competitive costs, the authors name this concept High Performance Value Stream. This paper characterises the concept of High Performance Value Streams and points out the main aspects. In a series of interviews, High Performance Value Streams within the industry were analysed. Characteristic types as well as examples from the industry are pointed out. For relevant aspects of the order fulfilment process of individual and individualised products, morphological boxes with distinctive features are presented.

Der Beitrag untersucht den Einsatz von IoT-Technologien in japanischen Automobilunternehmen. Auf der Basis von Fallstudien in sieben Unternehmen wird mit der Gemba-Digitalisierung ein Modus identifiziert, der auch für deutsche Unternehmen und Digitalisierungsexperten sowie die Forschung hierzulande von Interesse ist. Kennzeichnend für die Gemba-Digitalisierung sind die Shopfloor-Orientierung der Digitalisierungsaktivitäten, ihr pragmatischer Low-Cost-Ansatz, der Respekt für das praktische Wissen der Produktionsarbeiter und die Einbettung in die in japanischen Unternehmen verbreitete Gemba-Kultur The contribution analyzes the use of IoT-technologies in Japanese automotive companies. Based on seven company case studies, a specific mode of the introduction of advanced technologies is identified, namely gemba digitalisation. Gemba digitalisation is characterized by the shopfloor orientation of digitalisation activities, its pragmatic low cost approach, its respect for the practical knowledge of production workers and its support for the Gemba orientation deeply embedded in the company culture of many Japanese companies.

We evaluate equity-efficiency trade-offs from admissions quotas by examining effects on output once beneficiaries start producing in the relevant industry. In particular, we document the impact of abolishing a 40% quota for male primary school teachers in Finland on their pupils' long-run outcomes. The quota had advantaged academically lower-scoring male university applicants, and its removal cut the share of men among new teachers by half. We combine this reform with the timing of union-mandated teacher retirements to isolate quasi-random variation in the local share of male quota teachers. Using comprehensive register data, we find that pupils exposed to a higher share of male quota teachers during primary school transition more smoothly to post-compulsory education, have higher educational attainment, and labor force attachment at age 25. Pupils of both genders benefit similarly from exposure to male quota teachers. Our findings are consistent with the quota improving the allocation of talent over the unconstrained selection process.

Long-term medical care for people living with HIV (PLHIV) is critical for treatment efficacy, and various studies have examined reasons for antiretroviral therapy (ART) non-adherence. In Japan, doctors assume patients maintain high adherence. However, little is known about real-world treatment adherence. We conducted an anonymous self-administered web-based survey asking about adherence for a total of 1030 Japanese PLHIV who were currently on ART. Adherence was determined using the eight-item Morisky Medication Adherence Scale (MMAS-8), for which scoring ranged from 0 to 8 and scores < 6 points were classified as low adherence. Data were analyzed based on patient-related factors; therapy-related factors; condition-related factors, such as a comorbidity with depression (utilizing the Patient Health Questionnaire 9, PHQ-9); and healthcare/system-related factors. Among 821 PLHIV who responded to the survey, 291 responders (35%) were identified as being in the low adherence group. A statistically significant relationship was found between the number of missed anti-HIV drug doses within the previous 2 weeks and long-term adherence, per the MMAS-8 score (p < 0.001). Risk factors for low adherence included age (younger than 21 years, p = 0.001), moderate to severe depression (p = 0.002, using the PHQ-9), and drug dependence (p = 0.043). Adherence was also influenced by a shared decision-making process, including treatment selection, doctor–patient relations, and treatment satisfaction. Adherence was mainly affected by treatment decision factors. Hence, support of care providers should be considered critical for improving adherence.

application/pdf, This paper explores how Japanese automotive manufacturers, whose production systems are characterised by the lean principle, address digital transformation. We conducted case studies of seven Japanese carmakers and suppliers to investigate the interplay between lean production and digitalisation. We found that the firms selectively adopted digital technologies to enhance the existing lean production system. We labelled this type of digitalisation ‘lean augmentation’. Further, we developed theoretical hypotheses regarding the potential of digitalisation to limit kaizen, the roles of human involvement and organisational coordination in digitalised manufacturing.

The growing demand for individualized products increases the amount of information processed in manufacturing. To machine individualized variants, individual information must be processed and an individualized CNC-program must be generated for each order. This results in performance losses in terms of throughput time, costs and quality. The redesign and automation of information processing offers high potential for improvement. This paper presents a procedure to map and design the processing and flow of information for the machining of individualized product components. The procedure covers information processing between the configuration and the machining of customer individual components.

The authors have requested that this preprint be removed from Research Square.

Using a unique dataset on all major corporate restructuring events in Japan between 1981 and 2010, we assess changes in the role of the main bank in guiding corporate turarounds, and the economic consequences of these changes for distressed firms. We identify firms in distress among all listed firms based on accounting data, and we separately identify firms undergoing corporate restructuring based on a newspaper search for the Japanese term “ saiken” . Even though the ratio of distressed firms has not declined, the incidence of saiken restructuring by such firms has become less frequent after the 1990s, indicating a decline in the governance and rescue role of the main bank. When firms undergo saiken , they adopt real adjustments in terms of labor, assets and finance. While the intensity of these adjustments has also declined over time, saiken firms make more significant adjustments than distressed firms that do not undergo restructuring. The role of saiken was an important part of corporate renewal in Japan, and it has declined. In line with existing research, these findings underscore changes in Japanese corporate governance, in particular regarding the decline of the monitoring and restructuring function of the main bank.

Companies are facing an increasing demand for individualized products. Thereby, the relevance of make-to-order (MTO) production systems rises. Product configuration systems and parametric design models have been established in MTO production environments to enable efficient manufacturing of individual variants towards the quantity of one piece. High potential for further improvements of lead time, cost and quality is offered by the automated generation of the individual CNC programs. This research focuses on CNC program generation based on parameters supplied by product configuration systems. Different approaches are described and characterized. A decision tree for automated CNC program generation is presented.

The major goal of lean production is implementing continuous flow production value streams according to just-in-time principles, having one-piece-flow as an ideal. The implementation of such systems is quite widespread in assembly areas, whereas implementations for machine-intensive manufacturing processes are lacking behind due to a considerably higher technical complexity. A simple transfer of the methods used for creating flow in assembly areas is not possible. In order to enhance lean production implementation for machining areas, a novel method has been developed to transform batch size-oriented machining into synchronous one-piece flow machining. It comprises a six-phase approach based on existing practices in lean production. The approach starts with generating process understanding and removing barriers for flow production, and then addresses process stabilization before establishing the prerequisites for a continuous material flow via group technology and manufacturing cells. Afterwards, information flow is facilitated and man-machine interaction is designed, before flexibility towards changes in customer demand are implemented. The method has been validated both in the Process Learning Factory CiP at TU Darmstadt as well as in several industrial manufacturing companies.

Einleitung: Um das Ausmaß einer Fazialisparese zu dokumentieren, gibt es weder bei den Grading Systemen noch bei Foto- oder Video-Aufnahmen einen internationalen Standard. Methoden: Um eine Anwendung in der klinischen Routine zu ermöglichen, wurden handelsübliche Hardware bestehend[zum vollständigen Text gelangen Sie über die oben angegebene URL], 88. Jahresversammlung der Deutschen Gesellschaft für Hals-Nasen-Ohren-Heilkunde, Kopf- und Hals-Chirurgie

This article adds the Japanese perspective to our knowledge of shared decision-making (SDM) preferences by surveying patients with prostate cancer (PCA) and physicians in Japan. In 2015, 103 Japanese patients with PCA were asked about their SDM preferences by using an Internet-based 5-point-scale questionnaire. Concurrently, 127 Japanese physicians were surveyed regarding their perceptions of patient preferences on SDM. Drivers of preferences and perceptions were analyzed using univariable ordinal logistic regression and graphing the fitted response probabilities. Although 41% of both patients and physicians expressed and expected a desire for active involvement in treatment decisions (a higher rate than in a similar study for the United States in 2001), almost half the Japanese patients preferred SDM, but only 33% of physicians assumed this was their choice. That is, 29% of Japanese physicians underestimated patients’ preference for involvement in making treatment decisions. Patients with lower health-related quality of life (as measured by the Functional Assessment of Cancer Therapy-Prostate [FACT-P]) expressed a stronger preference for SDM. The study shows that the worse the medical situation, the more patients with PCA prefer to be involved in the treatment decision, yet physicians tend to underestimate the preferences of their patients. Perhaps in contrast to common assumptions, Japanese patients are as interested in being involved in decision making as are patients in the United States.

We investigate trades of wholly- or partially-owned subsidiaries between firms listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange (TSE) for the years 1996–2010, to explore the economic impact in terms of strategic refocusing, stock market valuation and performance effects. By pairing both sides to each deal, we show differences in firm characteristics, returns, and subsequent performance of buying and selling firms. Unlike mergers between whole firms, most subsidiary deals straddled different industries. Most sellers were larger, more diversified and less profitable than buyers. Our event study reveals that abnormal returns were positive for buyers yet insignificantly different from zero for sellers. However, subsidiary sales in the core business earned negative returns, the more so the larger the deal. An analysis of ex-post operating results shows that the performance of sellers often declined after the trade, in particular for firms that divested a core-related subsidiary. We conclude that subsidiary trades in Japan in this period contributed importantly to strategic repositioning and a more efficient use of corporate assets.

This paper investigates how exposure to sunshine affects the suicide rate in Japan, especially in relation to economic variables. Using prefecturebased data on socioeconomic variables for the years...