How the Japanese Do It

While no integrated steel mills have been built in the U.S. since 1964, modern and highly productive plants have been going up in Japan. In a 40-hr, week, the Japanese steel worker produces about 4.8 tons of the metal, the U.S. worker turns out 4.6 tons and the West German 3.8 tons. Japan's commitment to efficient steel production is illustrated by that country's most modern steel plant, the Nippon Kokan (NKK) works on man-made Ohgishima island.

A decade ago, NKK's Keihin Works on the shores of Tokyo Bay were crowded and outdated, and the Japanese government was promulgating tough new antipollution standards. Nippon Kokan's bold solution was literally to move a mountain from the opposite side of the bay and create an island upon which to build a $3 billion nonpolluting mill.

The investment has paid off glowingly. Whereas the old plant had required 18,000 workers to produce 5.5 million tons of steel a year, NKK claims that the new mill employs only 8,000 people to make 6 million tons. Much of that productivity increase came from investment in the latest automated handling equipment and huge, super-efficient blast furnaces. A computerized system enables the plant to turn out large amounts of standard products and easily switch to small lots of specialty products and back again. One man in a tower controls a hot strip mill that makes the world's widest coils: 7.5 ft. At an energy-control center, employees in white tennis shoes work at consoles that carefully monitor the use of coal, heavy oil, liquid gas and other fuels.

Much of the credit for the high productivity belongs to the 1,400 quality-control circles established at the plant. These groups of five to seven employees meet often to suggest and discuss better ways of doing their jobs. A worker is expected to learn about every job on the operation to which he is assigned, from cleaning the equipment to handling the controls. Technicians sometimes sweep the floor.

Japanese steelworkers get little more than half as much in wages and benefits as their American counterparts, or an average $9.25 per hr. But loyalty to the company is not determined by the size of the paycheck. Japanese steelworkers often take fewer than their allotted 20 days of vacation. In return, the employees get what amounts to lifetime job security. Long before a Japanese steel firm closes an old plant, it starts to transfer workers to other plants.

U.S. steelmakers face an uphill struggle against their Japanese competitors because of the workers' commitment to their corporations and the continual drive for peak efficiency. Most of the equipment in the "outdated" Keihin Works was less than 30 years old. By contrast, U.S. Steel's Youngstown Works in Ohio, which is set to close this year, uses a steam engine that was installed in 1908.

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