Japanese firms have achieved the highest levels of manufacturing efficiency

游客2024-01-12  15

问题     Japanese firms have achieved the highest levels of manufacturing efficiency in the world automobile industry. Some observers of Japan have assumed that Japanese firms use the same manufacturing equipment and techniques as United States firms but have benefited from the unique characteristics of Japanese employees and the Japanese culture. However, if this were true, then one would expect Japanese auto plants in the United States to perform no better than factories run by United States companies. This is not the case, Japanese-run automobile plants located in the United States and staffed by local workers have demonstrated higher levels of productivity when compared with factories owned by United States companies.
    Other observers link high Japanese productivity to higher levels of capital investment per worker. But a historical perspective leads to a different conclu- sion. When the two top Japanese automobile makers matched and then doubled United States productivity levels in the mid-sixties, capital investment per employee was comparable to that of United States firms. Furthermore, by the late seventies, the amount of fixed assets required to produce one vehicle was roughly equivalent in Japan and in the United States. Since capital invest - ment was not higher in Japan, it had to be other factors that led to higher productivity.
    A more fruitful explanation may lie with Japanese production techniques. Japanese automobile producers did not simply implement conventional processes more effectively: they made critical changes in United States procedures. For instance, the mass-product ion phi- losophy of United States automakers encouraged the production of huge lots of cars in order to utilize fully expensive, component-specific equipment and to occupy fully workers who have been trained to execute one operation efficiently. Japanese automakers chose to make small-lot production feasible by introducing several departures from United States practices, including the use of flexible equipment that could be altered easily to do several different production tasks and the training of workers in multiple jobs. Automakers could schedule the production of different compo- nents or models on single machines, thereby eliminating the need to store the buffer stocks of extra components that result when specialized equipment and workers are kept constantly active. [br] Which of the following statements is supported by information stated in the passage?

选项 A、Japanese and United States automakers differ in their approach to production processes.
B、Japanese automakers have perfected the use of single-function equipment.
C、Japanese automakers invest more capital per employee than do United States automakers.
D、United States-owned factories abroad have higher production levels than do Japanese owned plants in the United States.
E、Japanese automakers have benefited from the cultural heritage of their workers.

答案 A

解析 哪一个被文中信息所支持?A.日美汽车制造者在制造流程上方式不同。正确。文章第三段做过详细比较。B.日本完善单功能设备。说反了,日本使用flexible equipment(原文L55)。C.日本投资比美国多。第二段观点,作者反对。D.“美国海外公司”和“日本在美公司”在文中未曾比较过。E.日本企业受益于文化传统。第一段理论,作者反对。
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