Kukowski, John A. | Search NASA

NASA NTRS1995

Electronics manufacturing and assembly in Japan

In the consumer electronics industry, precision processing technology is the basis for enhancing product functions and for minimizing components and end products. Throughout Japan, manufacturing technology is seen as critical to the production and assembly of advanced products. While its population has increased less than 30 percent over twenty-five years, Japan's gross national product has increase thirtyfold; this growth has resulted in large part from rapid replacement of manual operations with innovative, high-speed, large-scale, continuously running, complex machines that process a growing number of miniaturized components. The JTEC panel found that introduction of next-generation electronics products in Japan goes hand-in-hand with introduction of new and improved production equipment. In the panel's judgment, Japan's advanced process technologies and equipment development and its highly automated factories are crucial elements of its domination of the consumer electronics marketplace - and Japan's expertise in manufacturing consumer electronics products gives it potentially unapproachable process expertise in all electronics markets.

Kukowski, John A.↗

NASA NTRS1995

Electronic manufacturing and packaging in Japan

This report summarizes the status of electronic manufacturing and packaging technology in Japan in comparison to that in the United States, and its impact on competition in electronic manufacturing in general. In addition to electronic manufacturing technologies, the report covers technology and manufacturing infrastructure, electronics manufacturing and assembly, quality assurance and reliability in the Japanese electronics industry, and successful product realization strategies. The panel found that Japan leads the United States in almost every electronics packaging technology. Japan clearly has achieved a strategic advantage in electronics production and process technologies. Panel members believe that Japanese competitors could be leading U.S. firms by as much as a decade in some electronics process technologies. Japan has established this marked competitive advantage in electronics as a consequence of developing low-cost, high-volume consumer products. Japan's infrastructure, and the remarkable cohesiveness of vision and purpose in government and industry, are key factors in the success of Japan's electronics industry. Although Japan will continue to dominate consumer electronics in the foreseeable future, opportunities exist for the United States and other industrial countries to capture an increasingly large part of the market. The JTEC panel has identified no insurmountable barriers that would prevent the United States from regaining a significant share of the consumer electronics market; in fact, there is ample evidence that the United States needs to aggressively pursue high-volume, low-cost electronic assembly, because it is a critical path leading to high-performance electronic systems.

Kelly, Michael J.↗