The 1990’s have brought a strong and fierce competitiveness to the world marketplace.   Companies who faced only domestic competitors in the past now face growing competition from abroad.  Countries unheard of as serious manufacturing threats two decades ago are now capturing larger portions of the marketplace by producing high quality, affordable products.  Japan is only one of those. 

The United States is not only facing a continuing decline in manufacturing, but the remaining manufacturing industries will face serious competition from many countries.  Growing Third World countries like Brazil, Mexico, and South Africa are facing strong competition from the Pacific Rim countries such as Hong Kong, Thailand, Singapore, Indonesia, Taiwan, and Korea.  We have seen the impact on textiles, automobiles, and consumer goods, to name but a few.

The European Community has bonded together to form an organized union.  By adopting ISO’s (International Standards Organization), European countries will be able to buy and sell with far more ease than yesterday’s Common Market approach.  ISO’s such as ISO 9000, a set of international quality standards, will virtually ensure an organized competing force of countries unlike any that the U.S. has seen so far in this century.  Now that is competition!

In the years to come, the new democratized nations of the former Soviet block will also compete in a crowded marketplace.   Countries are facing competition unlike any ever faced before.  As the expectations for higher standards of living continue to climb, nations are seeing that the only way to capture or preserve market share is to use every tool at their disposal.   The U.S. will face a heavily saturated field of competition where only those countries and companies that stay abreast of change will survive.  It seems that everybody and their brother (and sister) is after our wealth. 

Why we need TPM

Ü In the 1950’s, about 70% of all the durable goods sold in the world were made in the U.S.…

      …today it is less than 10%.

Ü In the 1950’s, there were over 50 U.S. television manufacturers (Emerson, Whirlpool, Magnavox, RCA, Philco, etc.)…

      …today there are  NONE.

Ü In the 1950’s, the fastest growing job was in manufacturing…

      …today it is in healthcare.  Manufacturing jobs will be  reduced to almost half of what they were in 1980 by the year 2000.

Ü In the 1950’s, the U.S. had the largest trade surplus in the world…

      …today we have the largest deficit.