Following the Soviet example, Czechoslovakia began emphasising the rapid development of heavy industry. The industrial sector was reorganised with an emphasis on metallurgy, heavy machinery, and coal mining. Production was concentrated in larger units; the more than 350,000 units of the pre-war period were reduced to about 1,700 units by 1958. Industrial output reportedly increased 233% between 1948–59 and employment in industry by 44%. The speed of industrialisation was particularly accelerated in Slovakia, where production increased 347% and employment by 70%. Although Czechoslovakia's industrial growth of 170% between 1948-57 was huge, it was far exceeded by that of Japan ( who increased by 300%) and West Germany (almost 300 percent) and more than equalled by Austria and Greece. For the 1954–59 period, France and Italy equalled Czechoslovak industrial growth.