Hostname: page-component-76fb5796d-25wd4 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-26T02:28:02.189Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The Hybrid Production System and the Birth of the Japanese Specialized Industry: Watch Production at Hattori & Co. (1900–1960)

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  18 February 2015

Pierre-Yves Donzé
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

This paper analyzes the emergence of Japanese specialized industry, taking the production of Seiko watches at Hattori & Co. in the first half of the twentieth century as an example. It shows that the competitiveness of this industry, which established itself on the world market during the 1960s, was due to a process of technological hybridization between the American mass production system and the Swiss specialized production system. Starting in the 1910s and 1920s, Hattori selected a few high-precision Swiss watches and set itself the goal of producing them in mass using imported machine tools. Yet this hybrid production system ran into problems because parts were not interchangeable, as a result of which assembly continued along traditional lines until the end of the Second World War. It was only when the company hired many production engineers who had graduated from Japanese engineering faculties and when it began to work with outside research institutions, such as the Department of Precision Engineering of the University of Tokyo, that Hattori was able to implement fully a hybrid production system in the 1950s.

Type
Articles
Information
Enterprise & Society , Volume 12 , Issue 2 , June 2011 , pp. 356 - 397
Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s) 2011. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of the Business History Conference. All rights reserved.

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Bibliography of Works Cited

Books

20 seiki nihonjin meijiten. Tokyo, Japan: Niggai Associates, 2004.Google Scholar
Abo, Tetsuo (ed.). Hybrid Factory. The Japanese Production System in the United States. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1994.Google Scholar
Bolli, Jean-Jacques. L’aspect horloger des relations commerciales américano-suisses de 1929 à 1950. La Chaux-de-Fonds, Switzerland: La Suisse Horlogère, 1956.Google Scholar
Boyer, Robert, Elsie, Charron, Jürgens, Ulrich, and Tolliday, Steven (eds.). Between Imitation and Innovation: The Transfer and Hybridization of Productive Models in the International Automobile Industry. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1998.Google Scholar
Cusumano, Michael A. The Japanese Automobile Industry: Technology and Management at Nissan and Toyota. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
Daito, Eisuke. Showa shonen no seikosha—udedokei no seisan taisei no seibi. Tokyo, Japan: Hattori & Co., 1982.Google Scholar
Donzé, Pierre-Yves. Histoire de l’industrie horlogère suisse de Jacques David à Nicolas Hayek (1850–2000). Neuchâtel, Switzerland: Alphil, 2009.Google Scholar
Edgerton, David. Warfare State: Britain, 1920–1970. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2006.Google Scholar
Ezawa, Tomikichi. Nanajunana o kaikodan. Tokyo, Japan: Shikaishobo, 1939.Google Scholar
Harrold, Michael C. American Watchmaking. A Technical History of the American Watch Industry, 1850–1930. Columbia, PA: NAWCC, 1984.Google Scholar
Glasmeier, Amy K. Manufacturing Time: Global Competition in the Watch Industry, 1795–2000. New York: The Guilford Press, 2000.Google Scholar
Heiner, Ritzmann (ed.). Statistique historique de la Suisse. Zurich, Switzerland: Chronos, 1996.Google Scholar
Henry-Bédat, Jacqueline. Une région, une passion: l’horlogerie: une entreprise: Longines. Saint-Imier, Switzerland: Compagnie des Montres Longines SA, 1992.Google Scholar
Hirano, Mitsuo. Meiji zenki Tokyo tokei sangyo no rodoshatachi. Tokyo, Japan, 1957.Google Scholar
Hirano, Mitsuo. Seikoshashi hanashi. Tokyo, Japan: Seikosha, 1968.Google Scholar
Hoke, Donald R. Ingenious Yankees. The Rise of the American System of Manufactures in the Private Sector. New York: Columbia University Press, 1990.Google Scholar
Hounshell, David A. From the American System to Mass Production, 1800–1932. Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins Press, 1984.Google Scholar
Jaquet, Eugène, and Chapuis, Alfred. Histoire et technique de la montre suisse. Basel, Switzerland: Urs Graf, 1945.Google Scholar
Jones, Geoffrey, and Atzberger, Alexander. Hans Wilsdorf and Rolex. Case study no. 9–805–138. Boston: Harvard Business School, 2006.Google Scholar
Kikai shikenjo nijugonen shi. Tokyo, Japan: Kikai shikenjo, 1963.Google Scholar
Koller, Christophe. L’industrialisation et l’Etat au pays de l’horlogerie. Contribution à l’histoire économique et sociale d’une région suisse. Courrendlin, Switzerland: CJE, 2003.Google Scholar
Kyokawa, Yukihiko. Nihon no keizai hatten to gijutsu fukyu. Tokyo, Japan: Toyo keizai, 1995.Google Scholar
Landes, David S. L’heure qu’il est: les horloges, la mesure du temps et la formation du monde moderne. Paris, France: Gallimard, 1988.Google Scholar
Linder, Patrick. Au cœur d’une vocation industrielle: les mouvements de montre de la maison Longines (1832–2007): tradition, savoir-faire, innovation. Saint-Imier, Switzerland: Les Longines, 2007.Google Scholar
Maeda, Hiroko. Senjiki kukoki kogyo to seisan gijutsu hensei—Mitsubishi kuko enjin to Fukao Junji. Tokyo, Japan: Tokyo University Press, 2001.Google Scholar
Makoto, Ichihara. Yume o utta otoko. Kindai sangyo no paionia. Tenshodo— Ezawa Kingoro. Tokyo, Japan: Ronshobo, 1990.Google Scholar
Ministry of International Trade and Industry (MITI) (ed.). Shoko seisakushi, vol. 19. Tokyo, Japan: MITI, 1985.Google Scholar
Moore, Charles W. Timing a Century. History of the Waltham Watch Company. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1945.Google Scholar
Morris-Suzuki, Tessa. The Technological Transformation of Japan. From the Seventeenth to the Twenty-first Century. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1994.Google Scholar
Nakagawa, Atsu. Seikosha shatta monogatari. Tokyo, Japan: Asahi, 1998.Google Scholar
Nakamura, Shuichiro. Shin chuken kigyoron. Tokyo, Japan: Toyo keizai, 1990.Google Scholar
Nakamura, Nakamura, Odaka, Konosuke, and Umemura, Mataji (ed.). Nihon keizaishi VI: Niju kozo. Tokyo, Japan: Iwanamibashoten, 1989.Google Scholar
Nakaoka, Tetsuro. Nihon kindai gijutsu no keisei—dento to kindai no dainamikusu. Tokyo, Japan: Asahi, 2006.Google Scholar
Nakaoka, Tetsuro, Suzuki, Jun, and Miyachi, Masato (eds.). Sangyo gijutsushi. Tokyo, Japan: Yamakawa, 2001.Google Scholar
Nemoto, Isami. Tsugami. Tokyo, Japan: Asahi Sonorama, 1972.Google Scholar
Nenpyo de yomu Seiko-epuson, 1881–2000. Tokyo, Japan: Seiko Epson, 2000.Google Scholar
Nicolet, Georges. Au cours du temps. Nivarox-FAR, 150 ans d’histoire. Le Locle, Switzerland: Nivarox, 2000.Google Scholar
Nihon gakujutsu shinkokai dai 95 iinkai (ed.). Tokei—seisangijutsu no kenkyu. Tokyo, Japan: Nihon gakujutsu shinkoukai, 1949.Google Scholar
Nihon kanzei-zeikanshi shiryo, vol. 3. Tokyo, Japan: Ministry of Finance, 1960.Google Scholar
Nihon kogyo yokan. Tokyo, Japan: Kogyo no nihonsha, 1909.Google Scholar
Pasquier, Hélène. La «Recherche et Développement » en horlogerie. Acteurs, stratégies et choix technologiques dans l’Arc jurassien suisse (1900–1970). Neuchâtel, Switzerland: Alphil, 2008.Google Scholar
Ryugo, Sadao. Seikosha kaichudokei zukan. Tokyo, Japan: Keisui, 2009.Google Scholar
Sabel, Charles F., and Zeitlin, Jonathan (eds.). World of Possibilities. Flexibility and Mass Production in Western Industrialization. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1997.Google Scholar
Scranton, Philip. Endless Novelty. Specialty Production and American Industrialization, 1865–1925. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2007.Google Scholar
Seiko tokei no sengo shi. Tokyo, Japan: Seiko Institute of Horology, 1996.Google Scholar
Shashi, Tokyo: Citizen Life, vol. 2, 2002.Google Scholar
Shimano, Takao. Shohin seisan yushutsunyu butsuryo ruinen 1871–1960. Tokyo, Japan: Aitsune shoin, 1980.Google Scholar
Soritsu 50 shunen kinenshi. Tokyo, Japan: Nihon kogata kosakukikai kogyokai, 2008.Google Scholar
Tissot, Laurent e.a. (ed.). Histoires de territoires. Les territoires industriels en question, XVIIIe-XXe siècles. Neuchâtel, Switzerland: Alphil, 2010.Google Scholar
Tohoku daigaku 50 nenshi. Sendai, Japan: Tohoku University Press, 1960.Google Scholar
Tohoku daigaku 100 nenshi. Sendai, Japan: Tohoku University Press, 2006.Google Scholar
Tokeishi nenpyo. Tokyo, Japan: Kawai kikakushitsu, 1973.Google Scholar
Tokyo daigaku hyakunenshi—bukyokushi. Tokyo, Japan: Tokyo University Press, 1984.Google Scholar
Tokyo Kogaku 50 nenshi. Tokyo, Japan: Topcon, 1982.Google Scholar
Tsuitsui, William M. Manufacturing Ideology: Scientific Management in Twentieth-Century Japan. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1998.Google Scholar
Uchida, Hoshimi. Tokei kogyo no hattatsu. Tokyo, Japan: Seiko Institute of Horology, 1985.Google Scholar
Ueda, Hirofumi. Gendai nihon no chushokigyo. Tokyo, Japan: Iwanami Shoten, 2004.Google Scholar
Wada, Kazuo. Monozukuri no guwa—fo-do kara Toyota he. Nagoya, Japan: Nagoya University Press, 2009.Google Scholar
Wakayama, Saburo. Tokeio—Seiko okoku wo waraita otoko. Tokyo, Japan: Seiko Institute of Horology, 2002.Google Scholar
Waseda daigaku hyakunenshi, vol. 3. Tokyo, Japan: Waseda University, 1994.Google Scholar
Yamashita, Mitsuru. Kosakukikai sangyo no shokubashi, 1889–1945—Shokunin waza ni idonda gijutsushatachi. Tokyo, Japan: Waseda University Press, 2002.Google Scholar

Articles and Essays

Béguelin, Sylvie. “Naissance et développement de la montre-bracelet: histoire d’une conquête (1880–1950).” Chronometrophilia 37 (1994): 33–43.Google Scholar
Boillat, Johann, and Noyer, Frédéric. «La cartellisation de l’horlogerie suisse (1928–1931): un mécanisme de production d’inégalités?» In Die Produktion von Unleichheiten—La production des ingénalités, eds. David, Thomas, Groebner, Valentin, Schaufelbuehl, Janick Marina and Studer, Brigitte. Zurich, Switzerland: Chronos, 2010, pp. 195–204.Google Scholar
Borer, Harry. “1878–1978. Centenaire de la Manufacture des montres Rolex SA, Bienne.” Neues Bieler Jahrbuch (1979): 101–109.Google Scholar
Daito, Eisuke. “Waga kuni ni okeru tokei kogyo no hatten—showa shonen no udedokei seisan.” In Kigyo keiei no rekishiteki kenkyu, ed. Nakagawa, Keiichiro, 242–62. Tokyo, Japan: Iwanami shoten, 1990.Google Scholar
Donzé, Pierre-Yves. “The Watchmaking Enterprises and the Growth of a Special-purpose Machine Tool Industry in Japan (1890–1960).” Osaka Economic Papers 60, no. 1 (2010): 20–34.Google Scholar
Fallet, Estelle. “Technique et développement de la chronométrie de marine en Suisse, XVIIIe-XXe siècles.” Chronometrophilia 41 (1996): 81–99.Google Scholar
Imaizumi, Asuka. “Tokyo-fu kikai kanren kogyo shuseki ni okeru kanto taishinsai no eikyo.” Shakai keizai shi gaku 74/4 (2008): 23–45.Google Scholar
Inoue, Kunitotsu. “Jidoteki rekken tokei no kanosei ni tsuite.” Journal of the Japan Society of Precision Engineering 7, no. 1 (1934): 221–31.Google Scholar
Kimiyoshi, Kiura. “Keiei no engen to sono shinka. Kyanon no haibiriddo manejimento moderu.” In Shinka no keieishi—hito to soshiki no furekishibiriti, eds. Kikkawa, Takeo and Shimada, Masakazu, 264–87. Tokyo, Japan: Yuhikaku, 2008.Google Scholar
Saito, Takenori. “Americanization and Postwar Japanese Management: A Bibliographic Approach.” Japanese Yearbook on Business History 12 (1995): 5–22.Google Scholar
Sakai, Hiyoshi. “Erinba higezenmai wo yusuru tokei to tetsu higezenmai wo yusuru tokei to no seino hikaku.” Journal of the Japan Society of Precision Engeneering 16, no. 2 (1935): 16–20.Google Scholar
Sawai, Minoru. “Meiji goki no kosakukikai kogyo.” Osaka Economic Papers, 50, no. 1 (2000): 1–30.Google Scholar
Sawai, Minoru. “Senchu—sengo Osaka no shinsetsu koto kogyo gakko—kogyo senmon gakko.” Osaka Economic Papers 57, no. 4 (2008): 278–96.Google Scholar
Sawai, Minoru. “Paneru hokoku—1950-60 nendai no keikikai kogyo—kozo to yakuwari (keieishi gakkai dai 42 zenkoku taikai togi hokoku).” Keieishi gakkai (Japan Business History Review) 41, no. 4 (2007): 35–40.Google Scholar
Teranashi, Juro. “Nihon keizai ni okeru yunyu daitaiteki seicho.” Keizai kenkyu 43, no. 2 (1992): 109–22.Google Scholar
Uttinger, Hans W., and Papera, Robert D.. “Threats on the Swiss Watch Cartel.” Western Economic Journal (1965): 200–16.Google Scholar
Veyrassat, Béatrice. “Manufacturing Flexibility in Nineteenth-Century Switzerland: Social and Institutional Foundations of Decline and Revival in Calico-printing and Watchmaking.” In World of possibilities. Flexibility and Mass Production in Western Industrialization, (dir.). Sabel, Charles F. and Zeitlin, Jonathan, 188–237. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1997.Google Scholar
Yamaguchi, Ryuji. “Nihon ni okeru marin kuronometa no seisaku ni tsuite.” Kokusai tokei tsushin 32 (1991): 266–70.Google Scholar
Wada, Kazuo, and Takao, Shiba. “The Evolution of the Japanese Production System: Indigenous Influences and American Impact.” In Americanization and Its Limits: Reworking US Technology and Management in Post-War Europe and Japan, eds. Zeitlin, Jonathan and Herrigel, Gary, 322–5. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2000.Google Scholar

Magazines and Newspapers

Feuille fédérale, Bern.Google Scholar
Nihon keizai shimbun, Tokyo.Google Scholar
Seiko giho, Tokyo.Google Scholar
Seimitsu kikai, Tokyo.Google Scholar
Suwa Seiko, Suwa.Google Scholar
Tokei, Tokyo.Google Scholar
Tokyo hibi shimbun, Tokyo.Google Scholar

Archival Sources

Archives of the Canton of Jura (ACJ), Porrentruy (Switzerland), 067J, Péquignot Papers.Google Scholar
Archives of the Companies des Montres Longines Francillon SA, Saint-Imier (Switzerland), correspondence ledgers.Google Scholar
Centre jurassien d’archives et de recherches économiques (CEJARE), Saint-Imier (Switzerland), archives of Schâublin SA.Google Scholar
Industrial Property Digital Library, http://www.ipdl.inpit.go.jp/homepg.ipdl(accessed June 7, 2010).Google Scholar
Musée international d’horlogerie (MIH), La Chaux-de-Fonds (Switzerland), archives of the Swiss Watchmaking Chamber, reports on Japan.Google Scholar
Seiko Institute of Horology, Tokyo (Japan), directory of the university graduates, 1945–1960.Google Scholar
Seiko Institute of Horology, Tokyo (Japan), Tomine Ritsu, Kaigai shuccho hokokusho, 14 reports, 1959.Google Scholar
Seiko Institute of Horology, Tokyo (Japan), Hiaringu tokei gijutsushi shirizu, vol. 1–33.Google Scholar
Seiko Institute of Horology, Tokyo (Japan), production statistics, 1945–1970.Google Scholar
Swiss National Archives, Bern (Switzerland), E7004, 1967/12, documentation on parts exports to Japan, 1953.Google Scholar
Swiss National Archives, Bern (Switzerland), E7004, 1972/11, documentation on exports to Japan, 1962–1967.Google Scholar
The University of Tokyo, Library of the Faculty of Economics, Tokyo (Japan), semestrial reports of Hattori Trading Co. Ltd., June 1929 (microfilm).Google Scholar

Government Documents

Ministry of Finances. Dainihon gaikoku boeki nenpyo. Tokyo, Japan: Okurasho, 1905–1960.Google Scholar
Ministry of Finances. Nihon kanzei zeikanshi shiryo. Tokyo, Japan: Okurasho, 1960.Google Scholar
Ministry of International Trade and Industry (MITI). Nihon no keikikai kogyo, Tokyo, Japan: MITI, 1958.Google Scholar
US Bureau of Statistics. Statistical Abstract of the United States. Washington, DC, 1890–1910.Google Scholar
US Department of Commerce. Bureau of the Census, Biennial Census of Manufactures, Washington, DC, 1905.Google Scholar

Interviews

Kubota, Kouji, former production engineer and member of the board of directors of Daini Seikosha, Tokyo, 25 May 2008, 24 April 2009, 20 January 2010 and 22 February 2010.Google Scholar