八幡製鐵・新日本製鐵の1956年から1980年代にいたるシステム思考の適用とコンピュータ活用に関する一実践側面(2)

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This article is the continuation of the similarly-titled one in the previous volume, and covers the period from 1970. With the "Oil Crisis" in 1973, Japan's steel production reached a peak of 119 million tons. Thereafter, the worldwide depression from 1981 to 1982 decreased domestic as well as foreign steel demand. In addition, the Japanese economy faced a depression caused by the progressively higher Yen/Dollar exchange rate after 1986. To overcome these difficulties, a variety of innovative steel-making processes such as continuous casting (C.C), direct rolling from the C.C., and continuous annealing were introduced. However, such advances required a sophisticated restructuring of the systems, not only to synchronize the overall process control from the LD converters through the rolling mills, but also to integrate production and quality control. In parallel with these innovations, Japanese steel companies accelerated their efforts to diversify activities into such new areas as hardware/software engineering, new materials, consulting, and information services. The present article deals mainly with those new activities, particularly with the system consulting services provided to steel companies in Italy, Belgium and China. This is due to the author's own experience as well as to the unavailability of published papers on this subject. In the article, the processes of agreeing contracts and the four stages of consultation followed to organize "TIIS" (Taranto Integrated Information System), based on Kimitsu Works (KIIS), are explained. It was the first time for the Japanese steel industry to practice this kind of consultation, and it was continued for four years in order to complete it to both sides' satisfaction. It resulted in a kind of prototype model for services to the Sidmar Works in Belgium and the USA. Baoshan Steel Works in Shanghai successfully started operation of its first blast furnace and of the down-stream plants in 1985, just eight years following its planning stage. At the beginning, the system support was expected to cover the whole integrated steel production process. However, because of unforeseen political and economic difficulties in China, the contract was restricted, after long negotiations, to cover only the hot strip mill area; finally, even this contract was one-sidedly cancelled. When the American steel industry, which had made far less effort to restructure than Japan's, began to lose its cost-competitiveness, the US Government announced the Solomon Report in 1977 and tried to restrict imports using the so-called "Trigger Price" based on the cost of Japanese steel. Under these circumstances, ARMCO "Houston Works - Vitalization Program" was started in 1980 and Nippon Steel was asked for its advice. The contents of this advice and a brief summary of the outcome are introduced here. This side view ends with the author's career change from the industrial to the academic field in 1987. In the last part of the article, "Questions and Answers", some topics which do not fit into the main part are covered. For example, it is coincidental but also significant that the 19-day steel strike in 1957 at the Japanese steel city of Yahata, of which the author had personal experience, ended in the defeat of the union, while the 116-day strike at Cleveland in 1959, which the author observed through his school-mate's father's participation, resulted in favor of the union. Ironically, the former, though a failed strike, led to increased productivity in time to fill the openings in the steel market caused by the latter, a successful strike. After these two incidents, the competitiveness gap between the two countries' steel industries progressively widened. The "Questions and Answers" section also deals with the reason for the necessity of involving the top person of the targeted company in order to make management consulting successful. In addition, such topics as the features of the steel production management system of Japanese companies compared with other countries, and the "planned value system", which is the basis of this production management system, are referred to.
2010-06-15

八幡製鐵・新日本製鐵の1956年から1980年代にいたるシステム思考の適用とコンピュータ活用に関する一実践側面(2)

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