Japanese Management & SMEs application

Abstract

This project's main objective is to study and develop management methods employed for more than half a century by the Japanese in terms of production management, human resources and everything related to the company stuff, placing them as leaders in the global market indeed in all sectors in terms of efficiency, reliability, quality and safety at work. As a starting point a theoretical analysis of the history, culture and behaviour throughout Japanese history to understand why the concept of Japanese Management is famous throughout the world and is increasingly used by multinational companies of all sectors in the market. The second part deal with everything related of Lean Management and all the concepts that the term carries on such as Just in Time, Kaizen, 5S, etc. Concerning the own experience applying 5S in a multinational. The knowledge gained is then applied to a Spanish company in the sector of surface‟s treaters with has solvency problems, although it has an amazing projection in the close future. So it is applied the concept of lean manufacturing to reduce costs primarily through process redesign and time recovery of unnecessary daily tasks at work and it is applied to achieve working as a team and as a family. It requires a long-term projection to achieve the Lean Manufacturing company so unfortunately it is not possible to quantify the results as regards efficiency because the lack of time, however, it is reflected how is studied the current situation, how it begins to act dramatically and all the pros and cons found, making a comparative between a Japanese and Spanish company. Despite major drawbacks, it is expected that though the work done during this thesis the company will be able to reduce production costs by at least 10% and 20% structure costs as well.