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Nikkei Monozukuri

September 2004 Issue

P. 4 Mastering Manufacturing

Kato Co., Ltd. (one of Japan’s model railroad manufacturers):
The former subcontractor captures the top share of the market of end products on the strength of its technical capabilities

P. 13 This Month’s Calculation

What have engineers gained by abandoning electronic calculators and using PCs? And what have they lost in terms of numerical intuition?

P. 15 World News

Let’s go into the streets with our electrical circuits on

P. 42 Cover Story

Brilliant small and medium-size companies defeat the recession by mastering technology

P. 44 Part 1: Outline
How did the winning small and medium-size companies survive?

P. 48 Part 2: Independent Path
They seized success with businesses that large companies did not want or could not do

P. 56 Part 3: Technologies That Other Companies Do Not Possess
A company can find a way to survive by relying on technologies and know-how that its rivals cannot match

P. 65 Kaizen in China

Part 6: Preparing for small-lot production using a hand-picked team

P. 74 Reports

P. 74 Kobe Steel and other companies join forces with Toyota Motor in the development of pedestrian protection technologies based on aluminum front hoods

P. 76 By making effective use of 3D CAD, Yamaha develops violins based on ones created by master craftsmen

P. 78 Fujitsu reduces the amount of time required to create analytical models to one-seventh the original amount

P. 79 Japan Automobile Manufacturers Association utilizes the Earth Simulator

P. 80 Consolidated financial results for the first quarter of fiscal year 2004

P. 82 Japan takes a leadership role in the international standardization of PDQ

P. 83 Mitsubishi Materials develops a system that collects information on business performance using IC tags and reflects that in production plans

P. 84 Manufacturers of HD DVDs such as Toshiba and NEC call attention to the lower production costs of the disks

P. 85 BMW of Germany develops a lightweight inline six-cylinder engine in which half the surface of the block is made of magnesium

P. 89 Features

P. 89 The steam leak from a turbine at the Mihama nuclear plant in Fukui Prefecture, which killed four workers and injured seven others, was an accident waiting to happen

P. 97 Mazda Motor has developed a new car, “Verisa,” without creating any prototypes

P. 107 The realization of traceability can ensure a customer’s peace of mind.

P. 118 Search for Manufacturing

This month’s research theme: the ideal and the reality of PLM

P. 149 An Accident Talks

A passenger fell from a ropeway. The accident is attributed to a maintenance company’s failure to provide sufficient maintenance.

P. 152 Practical PLM Academy

Part 6: BOM for each purpose and more emphasis on modularity

P. 156 The Method

Toyota Method and Work Restructuring (Part 3)
Toyota's way of bringing out the wisdom of it employees

P. 160 The Master

Part 4: Technologies fall from the starry heavens (2)

P. 201 Documentary

Kenwood’s production innovation (Part 1): This looks like a factory from 20 years ago

P. 206 Studying Hot Products

A dishwasher: An excellent product at an affordable price that is also easy on the environment

P. 208 Interview

Tsukasa Matoba: Chief Specialist, PC Product Planning Department, Toshiba Corporation Personal Computer & Network Company

P. 122 Interesting News

P. 136 New Products

P. 165 Plaza

P. 168 Calendar