Manufacturing
3 stories
Kaizen is a business-book buzzword. What does it mean on a Toyota factory floor?
Self-help calls it small steps; consultants call it a system. On a Toyota line it means workers improving their own jobs. Where did that come from?
Why did toilets in Japan go high-tech, when most of the world's never did?
Heated seats, warm water, a button that plays the sound of a stream. Why did Japan's toilets turn into machines, and why hasn't the rest of the world followed?
How did "Made in Japan" go from a joke to a promise?
After the war, "Made in Japan" was shorthand for shoddy goods. Today it sits on cameras, cars and kitchen knives. The change runs through clockwork dolls, a self-stopping loom and a postwar obsession with getting the small things right.