Comments on: Nissan’s Mock Assembly Lines http://www.leanblog.org/2007/06/nissans-mock-assembly-lines/ Mark Graban's leanblog.org - Lean Healthcare, Lean Thinking, Lean Manufacturing, Toyota Production System Thu, 09 Feb 2012 22:59:58 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 By: Karthik Chandramouli http://www.leanblog.org/2007/06/nissans-mock-assembly-lines/#comment-2121 Karthik Chandramouli Mon, 04 Jun 2007 14:29:00 +0000 http://leanblog.bigbigdesign.net/2007/06/nissans-mock-assembly-lines/#comment-2121 When I read this article, it had me scratching my head in disbelief. The implication is that Nissan was NOT doing this in the past.<br/><br/>Can someone from Nissan clarify if this is the case?<br/><br/>I know that Toyota has been building mock assembly lines for years. Particularly for "overseas" projects, during the pre-production phase, the "Mother" Plant in Japan will work closely with equipment and tooling suppliers to build an assembly line for high-volume part trials. Also, they do this to validate the equipment that will be installed overseas.<br/><br/>Then they tear down the line and ship it to the factory where it will be installed.<br/><br/>From first glance, it appears that Nissan is experiencing the human limits of growth. Toyota ran into this problem and, in 2003, established a Global Production Center to standardize production preparation activities globally, particularly as it relates to development of people.<br/><br/>I know everyone loves to generalize about the Japanese automotive OEMs, but they are definitely unique, and have very different philosophies -- beyond the high-level common approach that is the foundation for the Toyota, Honda, and Nissan production systems.<br/><br/>If you look at The Toyota Way, The Honda Way, and The Nissan Production Way, each has a very distinct approach, which leads to significantly different approaches.<br/><br/>This is a good example of how the Japanese OEMs are not identical in the way that they apply commonly-held principles. When I read this article, it had me scratching my head in disbelief. The implication is that Nissan was NOT doing this in the past.

Can someone from Nissan clarify if this is the case?

I know that Toyota has been building mock assembly lines for years. Particularly for “overseas” projects, during the pre-production phase, the “Mother” Plant in Japan will work closely with equipment and tooling suppliers to build an assembly line for high-volume part trials. Also, they do this to validate the equipment that will be installed overseas.

Then they tear down the line and ship it to the factory where it will be installed.

From first glance, it appears that Nissan is experiencing the human limits of growth. Toyota ran into this problem and, in 2003, established a Global Production Center to standardize production preparation activities globally, particularly as it relates to development of people.

I know everyone loves to generalize about the Japanese automotive OEMs, but they are definitely unique, and have very different philosophies — beyond the high-level common approach that is the foundation for the Toyota, Honda, and Nissan production systems.

If you look at The Toyota Way, The Honda Way, and The Nissan Production Way, each has a very distinct approach, which leads to significantly different approaches.

This is a good example of how the Japanese OEMs are not identical in the way that they apply commonly-held principles.

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