Can Canon Keep Printing Money?

The giant statue of Buddha that overlooks Canon Inc.'s (CAJ ) Ami plant in Ibaraki, north of Tokyo, is hard to miss. Standing 120 meters tall -- higher than the Statue of Liberty -- the Buddha watches over a landscape of verdant fields and the occasional factory. For workers assembling photocopiers in the Canon facility, though, Buddha's stare pales in comparison to Hiroshi Ishii's steely gaze. Plant manager Ishii likes nothing more than to scour the factory for even the tiniest hint of inefficiency. "No matter how small, we have to identify waste and find ways to eliminate it," he says, casting a knowing eye over a young worker wrapping freshly assembled copying machines in plastic.

Ishii may sound obsessive, but it's that sort of passion for improvement that has transformed Canon from a lumbering symbol of debt-ridden post-bubble Japan into one of the country's leading enterprises. Ishii and his colleagues at Ami, for instance, have developed simple but effective systems to make their operation more efficient, such as ropes and pulleys that deliver components in a jiffy, and foot-controlled motors that rotate workstations so workers don't have to step around the copiers they're assembling. And since extending one's arm takes time, Canon is shaving seconds by striving to put all components and tools within 20 centimeters of a worker's hand.