Tuesday, August 26, 2008, 12:00PM - 5:30PM
ENGLISH
JETRO Event

Background
In the United States, Japanese OEMs (Original Equipment Manufacturers) are currently responsible for more than 30% of total automotive production, with plans to further expand production capability in North America. As a result, there have been significant business linkages between American automotive parts manufacturers and Japan’s OEMs and Tier-1 companies.

As successful as these business relationships have been, many obstacles still remain for automotive companies in both countries: challenges focused on manufacturing philosophies, management methodologies, and recognition of the differences in the way business is conducted. While American and Japanese automotive manufacturers continue to be competitors, these companies increasingly find themselves collaborating with each other in the world’s largest automotive market. We believe this collaboration will only enhance the success of the global manufacturing industry.

This is precisely why the key to fostering collaboration between the U.S.-Japan manufacturing communities is to go beyond simply giving information on salesmanship and how to conduct Buy-Sell interactions. What is needed instead is a fundamental understanding of Japan’s philosophy in product making, or monozukuri in Japanese. Once monozukuri is achieved, it serves as a catalyst for accelerating innovation, management solutions, production processes, human resources, and sales and marketing. In order to truly enhance business relationships between U.S. and Japanese manufacturing companies, it is critical to have a fundamental understanding of Japan’s monozukuri practices.Based on this belief, JETRO Chicago organized two introductory seminars in April 2007. Entitled the “The Mindset of Monozukuri,” the seminars were held in Chicago, Illinois and Plymouth, Michigan. JETRO Chicago is again planning to hold a seminar, focusing on the concepts of monozukuri and its practical applications in developing business relationships with Japanese automotive companies, this time to be held in Indianapolis, Indiana.

Purpose of “Japanese Monozukuri Practices” seminar
This seminar will encourage the continued development of the automotive industry toward further management interaction and cooperation between companies in the United States and Japan. With this objective in mind, we intend to provide practical guidance concerning how Japanese companies manage their production processes and create innovation; share manufacturing philosophies in order to develop mutually strong business ties between American and Japanese automotive companies; and provide insights on developing relationships with Japan’s automotive sector.

We will provide attendees with examples of the best and most innovative practices, both by American and Japanese companies. We will examine how Japanese manufacturers refine their production processes in the United States and how American manufacturers enhance competitiveness by working with American-based Japanese companies.

We expect that the outcome of this type of intensive interaction will contribute to the primary purpose of this seminar, which is to forge more successful and fruitful manufacturing partnerships between Japan and the United States, specifically with the Midwest’s Japanese automotive companies and their Midwest peers.

For program information, please contact Kevin Kalb at JETRO Chicago, 312-832-6000 ext 205. Please see the brochure document below for the agenda.

Advance registration is required through the Japan-America Society of Indiana by contacting John Lajiness, 317-635-0123. Please note the registration document below.

The seminar will feature simultaneous translation from English to Japanese.

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