After WWII ended, Japan’s industry was in ruins. During the post-war occupation of Japan, and with the help of the United States, Japan underwent a rapid economic recovery. By the late 1940s, American businesses began importing goods from Japan, and this trade expanded dramatically during the 1950s and 1960s. Initially, early post-war imports were often viewed as cheap or low-quality, consisting of items like textiles, cameras, and trinkets. By the late 1960s and 1970s, Japanese manufacturers, such as Toyota, Honda, Sony, and Nikon, began exporting dependable and high-quality cars, motorcycles, and electronics. These imports became incredibly popular with American consumers.
How did this transformation happen? During the post-war years, an American engineer and statistician, Edwards Deming, introduced new concepts to Japan’s industrial leaders. Deming’s teachings were fundamental to the development of the Toyota Production System (TPS), by focusing on statistical process control and management responsibility, laying the foundation for “lean” manufacturing. As an example, Toyota adopted these concepts and has produced the most reliable automobiles in the world for decades. Deming’s principles were broadly adopted throughout Japan’s industrial complex. The key takeaway from the forgoing example is that a paradigm shift is often needed to move from habits that aren’t producing acceptable results to habits that produce better results. The Japanese needed a “win.” They listened, open-mindedly, to Deming’s principles and put them into practice.
As market share in key industries started shifting from American manufactured goods to Japanese manufactured goods, American industrial management began looking for ways to compete with the Japanese. Ultimately, Deming’s principles began to take root in the US during the 1970s and 1980s. In 1979, Philip Crosby’s book “Quality Is Free” became popular with management in the electronics industry. The quality movement spread to other areas of American industry, resulting in more robust American goods and services. Additionally, and as a bonus, today many consumer products cost less than they did decades ago due to reduction of waste in the manufacturing process. The mindset and practice of “continuous improvement” ensures better products and cost savings over time.
The “continuous improvement” mindset can be applied to services and non-durable deliverables as well as consumer goods. Services and deliverables from our governmental entities, local to federal, come to mind and are in dire need of improvement. In order to capitalize on opportunities to better serve our citizens, a change in mindset must occur. We must be more open-minded about how we conduct the business of government and to consider alternative behaviors to improve the deliverables of government. Recently, in Fannin County, an alternative to how our county roads could be managed and maintained has been considered. This system has been embraced by sixty plus Texas counties already. This system would have a dedicated engineer to manage road maintenance operations and report to the county commissioners. As a bonus, the county commissioners could spend more time and effort on managing other aspects of the county’s business. A petition is being circulated within Fannin County to allow citizens to decide whether they want to keep the current precinct-managed road maintenance system or adopt a dedicated engineer-managed system. If the required number of signatures of registered voters sign the petition, the measure will be placed on the November ballot. Then you, the citizens, get to decide the issue. As we embrace the inevitable influx of new people into Fannin County, we need to be mindful that the way “we’ve always done things in the past” may not serve us well in the future. Rather than fear the coming changes, we might do well to be open-minded and look for opportunities to make the best of the growth. A new approach to managing our county roads may be a good place to start.
Mike Nejtek
