1998 the Unique Trajectory of Mitsubishi
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1 Chapter 6 THE UNIQUE TRAJECTORY OF MITSUBISHI MOTORS In Freyssenet M., Mair A., Shimizu K., Volpato G. (eds), One Best Way? Trajectories and Industrial Models of the World's Automobile Producers, New York, Oxford, Oxford University Press, 1998, 476 p. Koichi Shimizu and Koichi Shimokawa The Mitsubishi Motors Corporation (MMC) is a member of the Mitsubishi group (formerly zaibatsu), so most of the company's investments have been financially supported by members of the group. However, this means that interest payments have sometimes weighed heavily on MMC's profitability. MMC produces all types of vehicles: passenger cars, commercial vehicles and industrial vehicles as well as minicars. The company's diversity saved MMC when it ran into difficulties during the transition to mass production of passenger cars. From the latter half of the 1980s, MMC pursued a balanced course of development having at last discovered how to combine technological and commercial innovation in the design of its products so as to meet market demands. 6.1. MMC PRIOR TO THE FIRST OIL CRISIS Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (MHI) had begun building automobiles in 1918, when it made 21 units adapted from Fiat's Tipo model. The zaibatsu's companies produced tanks, battleships, bombers and fighters during World War II. These facts accounted for the dismantling of the Mitsubishi zaibatsu following Japan's defeat, with MHI being divided into three companies, each sited in a different region. Two of the companies focused on the automotive industry. Mitsubishi Nippon Heavy Industries, sited in the East, produced trucks and buses under the marque Fuso, while New Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (NMHI), sited in the central region, produced scooters, three-wheelers, automobiles, Willis Jeeps, and commercial vehicles in its two factories at Nagoya and Mizushima, and Mitsubishi engines at its Kyoto factory. In 1964 these three companies 2 merged to form the new Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, which adopted an organizational form of divisions based on product lines: naval, engineering, automotive, aeronautics and special vehicles. In the late 1960s, MHI launched a minicar, Minica, the sales of which rose rapidly between 1964 and 1970. However, the first passenger car, the Colt, was not a success. Having learned from this failure, MHI designed a new model, the Colt Galant, with a new engine (Saturn) which met Japan's 1966 anti-pollution regulations. Launched in 1969, this model went into mass production, at 10,000 units per month. Yet at this point MHI remained principally a producer of mini cars and commercial vehicles. During the late 1960s some producers sought to forge links or even to merge, as a means to resist equity participation by foreign companies now that the country's economy would be open to foreign capital. In 1968 MHI decided to merge with Isuzu, in the context of a merger of their respective banks, Mitsubishi Bank and Daïichi Bank. The failure of the bank merger in 1969 led MHI and Isuzu to abandon their own plans. Meanwhile, Chrysler was also proposing future cooperation with MHI. Besides seeking to make headway in the Japanese market, the American company also wanted to produce small automobiles with the aid of MHI. In 1969 the two companies decided to form a joint subsidiary, Mitsubishi Motors Corporation (MMC), and signed a distribution contract for MMC's products in the United States and other markets through Chrysler's sales networks. In the end Chrysler's participation was limited to 15 per cent of MMC's capital, a result of its own deteriorating finances caused by its European investments. Hence, MMC was founded as an American-Japanese joint venture with the capacity to produce 500,000 vehicles per year and 20,095 employees at three factories: the Kawasaki factory which specialized in the production of Fuso commercial vehicles, and the factories at Nagoya and Mizushima which produced passenger cars (Debonair and Colt Galant), commercial vehicles and minicars. MMC's production areas had been converted from aeronautical to automotive use. In terms of production equipment, Mitsubishi turned to the most recent methods such as automated guided vehicles to transport vehicle bodies and a computerized system to 3 manage the assembly lines (ALC: assembly line control), installed in 1966. However, lack of space at the Nagoya plant, for example, made linkages between the different parts of the assembly line difficult and caused efficiency losses. Work was organized into two shifts: the day shift worked six days per week and the night shift five days. Workers were trained to be polyvalent, though rotation of work posts was not the rule. By the late 1960s, for example, employees worked on several machine-tools simultaneously in the mechanical components production area at Mizushima. There had been a kaizen system since 1954, though quality circles were not introduced until 1965. As was the case in other Japanese companies using the same methods, improvements only involved equipment that had already been installed, whereas responsibility for the design of larger scale technical innovations was assumed by engineers. When the company was formed, MMC's union had been separated from that of MHI. Yet until 1979 the two unions cooperated in negotiations with MMC and MHI in order to obtain the same conditions of work. The crisis in the shipyards then made it difficult to pursue identical wage policies. While MMC's union sought to cooperate with management it retained a strong position in negotiations. As a consequence, the reduction of working hours was obtained more quickly here than at other automobile producers. Hence five day working week with an official 1,960 hours worked per year was adopted in 1973. MHI had continued to make strong distinctions between blue-collar workers (paid by the day) and white-collar workers (monthly salary), even though this differentiation had been abolished in most companies as part of the democratization of industrial relations in the period immediately following World War II. Creation of the new MMC brought with it the elimination of this distinction; henceforth all employees had the same status. Instead they were organized into hierarchical functional groups: management, administration, engineering, staff, production, specialized tasks and medical staff. Within each function, employees were classified hierarchically, by levels which reflected their competencies and seniority; there were five levels for production workers, for instance, and two for supervisors. 4 The wage system was also revised. From 1971 monthly salaries (not including overtime pay) were comprised of a part that was the individual basic salary (Honkyu, HK), a part based on attendance (Kinmukyu, RA), a part based on skill or ability (Shokunokyu, RCQ) and various allowances. The annual salary increase took place in April at the time of the Shunto (Spring wage negotiations). Individual salary increases were based on two evaluations (the two satei): the satei for the employee's activities determined individual basic salary increases, attendance related pay and the annual bonus; the satei for ability determined ability-based pay and prospects for promotion. The satei therefore played a vital role in getting employees involved in their tasks: a common thread running through Japanese companies. MMC differed from other companies in its training policies. From 1970, MMC has employed holders of secondary education diplomas as factory workers. They were trained internally for one year before assignment to a work post. MMC workers therefore possessed advanced technical skills, which was one source of the company's high productivity. In 1970 MMC suppliers formed an association, 'Kashiwa Kai' composed of 227 companies supplying the passenger car division and 124 supplying the commercial vehicle division. Some of them had strong links to the Mizushima factory. In 1962 they had formed a producer cooperative in order to modernize their equipment, raise their level of technology, improve working conditions and recruit their work force collectively. In 1966, the cooperative was installed in an industrial park 'Sojya Danchi' built close to the Mizushima factory. The factory and the producer cooperative collaborated so closely at the technical level that former looked upon the latter as one of its own factory areas. By 1968, MHI was already requiring suppliers to control and guarantee the quality of the parts they supplied, so that the company itself would no longer have to control the quality of components received from its suppliers. To do this MHI periodically issued suppliers with certifications, following inspection of their work processes and after assisting them when necessary. 5 Mitsubishi Motors Sales (MMS) had 114 dealerships, organized into two networks: a network for passenger cars and minicars, and a network, Fuso, for trucks and buses. In 1966, these two networks were merged, but they were separated again two years later, an instability which reflected the commercial difficulties Mitsubishi was encountering. At its inception, MMC sought to establish close collaboration with MMS, by jointly deciding an annual programme and long-term strategy. Despite these efforts, sales of passenger cars remained lack-lustre. The Colt Galant, launched in 1969, was not really able to break into a market dominated by Nissan's Bluebird and Toyota's Corona. Even though new variants were introduced, sales of the Colt Galant/New Galant still did not improve. Nor was the Lancer, introduced in