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Made in Japan

Recalls have tarnished that once- proud label, and partly to blame is younger workers' lack of interest in production.

By ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published October 27, 2006

KAWASAKI, Japan - Yasuhisa Konno is so proud of the fine-tuned skills required to make metal parts at his greasy yet humming shop that he and several like-minded neighborhood factory owners have formed a social club called Republic of Manufacturing.

The club, which meets regularly over beer to trade notes, has one key message: Japan Inc. was built on quality manufacturing delivered by dedicated workers like the club members, and they deserve social respect.

Konno, 40, isn't alone in fretting about the possible unraveling of mighty manufacturing, long credited with helping modernize this nation to become the world's second-biggest economy.

Although such concerns have been around for some years, the recent spate of recalls at top names in Japanese manufacturing - Sony Corp., Toyota Motor Corp., Canon Inc., to name a few - is serving as an all-too-painful reminder that the fears are looming ever larger.

The concerns are especially relevant coming amid intensifying competition from nearby China. A rapidly declining birth rate is threatening Japan with a worker shortage that could chip away at its craftsmanship tradition.

Konno acknowledges his company, which boasts some 200 corporate customers, has serious trouble attracting younger Japanese, who look down on production work as dirty, dangerous and tough.

The sense of crisis is great.

Tokyo has adopted as its buzzword for a national vision monozukuri, which means "making things," including not only industrial production but arts and crafts and other activities that also involve working with your hands. A declining birth rate is seen as a threat to ensuring an adequate work force for monozukuri as the boomer generation approaches retirement age.

The government started a monozukuri campaign last year, earmarking money to dozens of robotics, nanotechnology, genome and other technology projects, to survive global competition.

Many Japanese feel that much of this nation's economic success was won through labor-intensive values.

Politicians, intellectuals and educators alike are engaging in hand-wringing about how such qualities are dwindling among younger Japanese, who are growing more like their Western counterparts in job-hopping and seeking dot-com riches.

Workmanship that comes from years of on-the-job experience is getting lost as more youngsters opt for white-collar work, said Seiichi Osawa, an official at the Nagano Prefectural Institute of Technology, a government manufacturing training program.

"What's important is learning by getting your hands covered with grease," he said. "But kids these days think everything can be done by just sitting in front of a computer."

[Last modified October 26, 2006, 23:54:57]