Author Description

Since the 1970s, Japanese manufacturing firms continue giving big surprises with strong impact to Western industries and academia. The first was the Toyota Production System (TPS). It has been imitated by many companies all over the world and has also motivated thousands of publications in the business press. The second was the knowledge-creating process, which has become a basic theory for knowledge management. The concept of the knowledge-creating company was developed by Ikujiro Nonaka, whose classic article, The Knowledge-Creating Company (1995), was one of the most influential management pieces in the last century.1 Since then, another manufacturing innovation - decompose assembly conveyor lines to serus - has occurred in Japanese industries. It is still largely unknown outside Japan. This case describes serus through one of its most successful practicers: Canon. Through this case, we understand why and how seru helps make Canon and many other Japanese companies so successful.