Gimme Shelter -- Made In Japan

 

The Japanese already make many of the cars in our garages. Soon, they may be making the garages, too.

Watch for them to start hammering away at the manufactured-housing market. Japanese executives are already scouting for plant sites, financiers, and potential U.S. partners. "It would not be impossible that in three years, the Japanese will have 30% of the market," says architecture professor Charles Graham, at Texas A & M University. "The domestic makers that survive will be the ones that are now preparing for it."

The house that Jack once built is now often the product of robots -- at least in Japan. "The Japanese are about 10 years ahead of us technologically," admits Martin Mintz, director of technical services for the National Association of Home Builders. "They can turn out homes like they do cars."

What's more, the timing of the Japanese couldn't be better. The market for cheap, quickly built manufactured homes could expand rapidly, especially in cities with housing shortages. In addition, U.S. consumers' attitudes about prefab housing could change when they see Japanese craftsmanship.

"U.S. manufacturers are not innovating," says Bill Miller, president of Shelter Institute Inc., a research firm. "If the Japanese come over here, they will eat them up."