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American Connector Company

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OPERATIONS MANAGEMENT

AMERICAN CONNECTOR COMPANY

INTRODUCTION
About DJC
DJC is easily perceived as the typical Japanese manufacturer when considering their core principles. DJC’s corporate objective was profit maximization. DJC emphasised on high quality products at low production costs and thus creating value for the company. Initially, it followed a strategy of coping American products, which were considered to be the most advanced in the world, but over a period of years realised highly efficient manufacturing is critical for gaining competitive advantage over its competitors and thus developed its RND team to produce quality products at par with American counterparts.
Facing huge challenge to maintain its current market share in connector business due to increase in labour cost, raw material cost, rising yen and wide penetration of imported goods, DJC chose to build its new plant in Kawasaki Japan to achieve “the ultimate rationalization of mass production”. The plant was established in 1986 and is designed to produce 800 million connectors per year with the aim of achieving three main goals 1. 100% utilization. 2. 99% yield on raw material. 3. Six sigma policy reducing defects to 1 per million units of output delivering high customer satisfaction. The Kawasaki plant is successfully operated by Kawasaki management by carefully integrating decisions and policies meeting company’s goal and objectives.
About American Connector
American Connector Company (ACC) and DJC Corporation (DJC) were both second tier competitors in the $16 billion electrical connector industry worldwide. Acc operates four plants in USA and Europe making four basic types of connectors for different customer segments. Over the years ACC has earned reputation for its high quality products with superior design and performance. Widely known for its customization strategy, Acc works

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