KAIZEN LEAN Tour Japan - Manufacturing/KAIZEN, 15. Nov - 18. Nov 2010, Japan
KAIZEN Lean Tours are an integral part of the services offered by the KAIZEN Institute worldwide. Enclosed is a snapshot of our upcoming International KAIZEN Lean Tour.
Join participants from around the world on a remarkable four-day tour and experience 6 world class Japanese companies mainly in the Nagoya area of Japan. Our KAIZEN Lean Tour hosts are successful companies who base their success on key KAIZEN Lean concepts. This tour offers a ‘behind the scenes’ view into the production and service segments of the host companies' facilities and highlights practical understanding of the power of KAIZEN.
Company visits*:
- Toyota Motor Corporation
- Toyota Industries
- Panasonic
- Nabeya
- Tokai Shin-ei
Toyota Motors
Visit the final vehicle assembly plant, with a chance to observe the engine or welding shops. A “must visit” if one wishes to see the original Toyota Production System (lean production) in action. This is a public tour TOYOTA offers for any visitors; however KI always arranges our visit as a private group and obtain TOYOTA’s English speaking specialist to accompany our group. Our consultants will help participants to be able to observe and understand TOYOTA’s commitment on KAIZEN, by providing extra explanation and history of TOYOTA and its operations. Combination of learning and observing, participants will understand the true KAIZEN from the world’s leading company, TOYOTA. We will also address any questions you may have regarding their recent recall and associated incidents.
Toyota Industries – Takahama Assembly Plant
Toyota Industries is the original parent company of the Toyota Motor Corporation and today is also one of the leading companies in the Toyota group. Toyota Industries has the number one market share in their major product lines including forklifts, air-conditioning compressors and diesel engines. The group will visit the Takahama Plant where two types of forklifts (gas engines and electric engines) are assembled on the same line in a leveling (Heijunka) manner. This is one of the best opportunities to observe the Just-In-Time (JIT) and lean practices first hand on the production line. For the second part of the tour, the team can also observe operations at the worldwide parts distribution center.
Tokai Shin-Ei Electronics
This company appears in Imai’s second KAIZEN book ‘Gemba KAIZEN: A Commonsense, Low-Cost Approach to Management’ (McGraw Hill 1997) which has many case studies to showcase how KAIZEN had been implemented by various companies. After so many years later, this company still is a great example of being committed to employ KAIZEN to strengthen their competitiveness.
Panasonic (Formerly Matsushita Electric)
This company is Panasonic (former Matsushita Electric Works) and the company can trace its roots back to 1918 when it was founded by Konosuke Matsushita. The campus is home to a workforce of approximately 3,000 employees; producing a range of home and industrial circuit switch gear and components for home automation systems.
Panasonic demonstrate Hoshin kanri, with each day beginning with exercise and briefings to all staff. The factory is divided into mass production lines with high levels of Autonomation and TPM, and a small lot, highly flexible area where small volumes are produced just in time, and employee Kaizen suggestions are diligently implemented.
Nabeya Bi-tech Company
Nabeya is specialized in producing many different precision metal products including miniature and precision shafts, coupling, screws and clamping components. The company refers to its mode of operations as “Sushi-Bar Production System” which can produce small volumes, even to a single piece, based on customer orders received and shipped on the same day. It has built its production system to pursue these unique customer requirements which calls for a different approach than Toyota’s, which is geared to mass-produced items. This will be an informative opportunity to observe the Just-In-Time operations under such unique conditions.
*These are the tentative host companies on our list, but their final decisions can only be made one or two months prior to the visit. In case they are unable to host, equally qualified companies will be selected. KAIZEN Institute reserves the right to make changes in the program.
Note: The Toyota Motor Corporation visit is a private only for the tour participants taking the public tour route – this is a great opportunity to observe the Toyota Production System in action. We‘ll discuss and explain specific key aspects and observations from this factory tour to ensure maximum benefits for participants.
Who Should Attend
Anyone involved in or responsible for KAIZEN Lean transformation, top and middle managers, training and HR managers, KAIZEN promotion managers.
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