Cost quandary hits Japan's advanced factories: High-tech supplier Jatco goes low tech for overseas expansion

摘要

NANTAN, Japan - It's a cruel paradox for Japan's manufacturers. Auto suppliers here have some of the world's most automated factories. But because they also serve as global mother plants for low-tech operations overseas, they sometimes have to dumb down lines, making output more costly and labor intense. That allows the companies to test and prove processes before implementing them abroad. Such is the quandary facing Jatco at its Yagi plant in Nantan city, northwest of Kyoto, which makes the continuously variable transmission that goes in such vehicles as the Nissan Altima sedan.