The effect of the quality-oriented production approach on the delivery of prefabricated homes in Japan

Abstract

During the 1960s and 1970s, Japanese housingmanufacturers focused solely on the `massproduction' of their products, resulting in asupply of virtually identical, rathermonotonous houses. Due to the `inferior' imageassociated with the low-quality appearance ofthese houses, the public immediately rejectedthem. Since then, manufacturers have placedgreater emphasis on improving industrializedhousing quality, and thereby customersatisfaction, such that today Japanese housingmanufacturers enjoy a reputation for providingquality housing that, while stillmass-produced, is customized – i.e., `masscustomization'.In order to meet today's diverse demands forhousing, Japanese manufacturers apply a quality-oriented production approach in themanufacturing of industrialized homes based ona cost-performance marketing strategy,which considerably increases housing quality byproviding standard fittings. As a result,even though affordable homes are still ingreat demand, manufacturers have actually beensuccessful in producing and marketing more expensive high-quality homes. This studyexamines the effect of the quality-orientedproduction approach on the delivery ofprefabricated homes in Japan, and highlightsthe interrelationship between thequality-oriented industrialized productionmethod that, in theory, helps reduceproduction costs and the marketing strategiesaimed at maintaining relatively highretail housing prices.