Mechatronics product development-the Japanese threat

Mechatronics may be regarded simply as a product technology which integrates mechanics with electronics and informatics, but in fact mechatronics has a very wide impact on industrial product development and company organization. The author points out relations between the characteristics of mechatronics technology and the strategy patterns followed by successful Japanese companies in their product development. The paper is based on the author´s 20-month study in Japan (1989)