Kaizen Guiding Principles ...

Kaizen principles sustain the culture of continuous improvement. ...

... "With kaizen, the concept of continuous improvement, Ohno gave TPS a self-perpetuating power to move beyond the status quo temptations of conventional management. " ...

Kaizen Guiding Principles: Via IndustryWeek : TPS' Guiding Principles

Lean Manufacturing Forest Products Industry Training ...

Lean manufacturing adoption enables US firms to compete in the global marketplace. Chuck Watson explores the efforts by the University of Minnesota Duluth Natural Resources Research Institute to provide area industry with an edge in lean manufacturing. ...

Lean Manufacturing Forest Products Industry Training: Via Business North: NRRI Forest Products promotes ‘lean’ manufacturing processes ...

... "His project team focuses on wood materials innovation and manufacturing, improvement in this vital industry, employing the lean manufacturing model initiated by Taiichi Ohno (Toyota). " ...

Taiichi Ohno: Lean Initiative

From AFMC/industry team looks for turbine engine improvements ...

... "The philosophy, Lean Production, was pioneered by Toyota executive Taiichi Ohno and used in the Toyota Production System. The principles of lean thinking were first documented in the U.S. by researchers from MIT International Motor Vehicle Program and in the book 'The Machine That Changed the World' by James Womack, Daniel Jones and Daniel Roos. The lean philosophy employs five basic principles of lean thinking: (1) specify value from the perspective of the end customer, (2) identify the value stream for each product, (3) create continuous flow of the product, (4) let the customer 'pull' the product and (5) strive for perfection. " ...

Lean Production / Lean Manufacturing Videos: Womack Videos 1 and 2

From Defense Systems Management College ... James P. Womack is currently an author and an advisor to many firms seeking to adopt the principles and techniques of Lean manufacturing & business. Mr. Womack, while a professor at MIT, co-authored the book "The Machine that Changed the World", which introduced readers worldwide to the concepts of Lean manufacturing, as typified by the manufacturing management processes used by the Toyota automotive company. Mr. Womack also co-authored the book "Lean Thinking" which describes application of Lean principles outside manufacturing and outside the automobile industry.

... James Womack, then another IMVP researcher in the late 1980s, credits Henry Ford with developing the first "Lean" principles, in the second decade of the 20th century. Indeed, Taiichi Ohno, the father of the Toyota Production System, TPS-the embodiment of "Lean" principles-credits Ford with the inspiration for Toyota Motor Company to spend 50+ years developing their manufacturing techniques and management principles based upon what we now call "lean" ...

New Lean Manufacturing Book: Kaikaku The Power and Magic of Lean - A new book on Toyota's ...

From Emediawire (press release) ... "Norman Bodek is the secret weapon of lean manufacturing. In his 59 trips to Japan, Norman met Shigeo Shingo, Taiichi Ohno and other ...

PCS Press is a publishing, consulting and training company focusing on improving customer service, quality, and human value. Offices are at 809 SE 73rd Ave., Vancouver, WA 98664, 360-737-1883

NORMAN BODEK, bodek@pcspress.com, Norman Bodek is president of PCS Press, a Vancouver, Washington, publishing, training, and consulting company. He discovered and published the works of the truly great Japanese manufacturing geniuses: Dr. Shigeo Shingo and Taiichi Ohno, the inventors of the Toyota Production System now called JIT and Lean manufacturing and many others. From his numerous trips to Japan he introduced to the western world the Kaizen Blitz, SMED, TPM, QFD, Hoshin Kanri, Poka-Yoke, Visual Factory and other new manufacturing methodologies that have helped companies improve their quality, and productivity. In 1988 he initiated the Shingo Prize for Manufacturing Excellence with Professor Vern Buehler at Utah State University. Most recently he co-authored a book with Bunji Tozawa titled The Idea Generator - Quick and Easy Kaizen. The Quick and Easy Kaizen system recognizes that every worker has hidden creative talent locked inside. This system becomes a powerful tool for management to bring forth lots and lots of small but significant improvement ideas from all their employees. The employee becomes empowered to make changes to improve customer service, to make their worker easier and more fun, to improve quality, to reduce costs, and to improve safety. And it works!

Lean Manufacturing: The American Dream

From TIME ... Shop-floor workers in Tulsa, Okla., taking lean-manufacturing tips from a Toyota sensei, or master, trimmed time and inventory, freeing up room to in-source ... The term Lean in the manufacturing environment also refers to the Toyota Production system established by the Toyota Corporation. Within the organization, four prominent gentlemen are credited with developing the system: Sakichi Toyoda, who founded the Toyoda Group in 1902; Kiichiro Toyoda, son of Sakichi Toyoda, who headed the automobile manufacturing operation between 1936 and 1950; Eiji Toyoda, Managing Director between 1950 and 1981 and Chairman between 1981 and 1994; and Taiichi Ohno, the Father of the Kanban System.