New Manufacturing Management Employing New JIT ◾ 389
10.3 Human-Integrated Assistance System
for Intelligence Operators
10.3.1 Introduction
e Japanese manufacturing industry is now developing global production by estab-
lishing production sites in various countries. High quality assurance is regarded as
the strong point of manufacturing in Japan (Abegglen, 1958). However, this situa-
tion is under threat (Hunt, 1992).
e author considers it vital to make production operators more indepen-
dent and creative in addition to their engineering capabilities and skills so as
to become an intelligence operator employing New JIT. In view of the need
to develop a new, creative, human-oriented production system for meaning-
ful work, the authors propose ...