How Japan’s manufacturing industry should transform post-pandemic
The COVID-19 pandemic has a severe impact on Japan’s economy, especially business activities in the manufacturing industry and the supply chain. Though the future is hard to foresee, it is believed that companies who take steps to prepare for the post-pandemic world will keep ahead of the future competition. Dream Incubator Executive Officer Mr. Masaaki Tashiro has shared some of his thoughts on how Japan’s manufacturing industry should transform after the crisis: 1/ Digitizing operations is an urgent need. Although digitalization as a topic is far from being new, the initiatives taken to promote it will surely continue to accelerate under the impact of coronavirus; 2/ Improve security practices and enable remote data access and remote operations of simulation softwares, 3/ Automation.
He also mentioned some keywords that help build a crisis-proof supply chain: diversification and multiple sourcing. Multi-skilled workers are also an important factor for risk dispersion, and it’s desirable to have a system where various workers can engage in any process instead of pursuing high specialization.
Source: Nikkei
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