Lean Japan Tour

A great tour. Having spent over 20 years in manufacturing I now understand the true meaning of Kaizen.
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From a remote rural engineering company – to the shining lights of Japan’s finest. I have returned overwhelmed from the experience to learn from some of the worlds best manufacturers and absorb decades of experience from my fellow peers. Highly recommended and treat it as a sound investment for your company’s future!
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Businesses need every weapon at their disposal to help compete in a global market. This tour opens up more ideas and opportunities and is highly recommended to manufacturers, engineering or service related industries. Everyone can learn something on this tour! Paul and Ben have done a marvelous job of putting together an action-packed week, which is highly recommended for those who wish to not only study lean practices but who have an interest in dealing with the Japanese in business.
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I attended the tour in 2011 and found the whole experience very useful to build on my understanding of Lean Manufacturing. For those having a reasonable understanding of Lean this tour shows in detail the gap that Australia experiences to world class productivity practices. Most interesting was the deployment of essentially the key elements of the Toyota Production System into an SME with 50 employees. It showed that even small business can be world class, and there is significant potential from my experience to do this in local SME’s as well as larger firms. This is really a must as part of the serious Lean journey and excellent for small and larger enterprises.
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I would highly recommend the tour to anyone who is in the business of improving people. The ideas stimulated through this tour have helped me reform our entire vision of what improvement means for our business.
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The Shinka lean study mission of Japan offers participants an opportunity to see what is possible in undertaking world class manufacturing. The insights that are possible on tours like this can really challenge what you think are the real key success factors for implementation and enhance the chance of success in your own journey.
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I was a part of the November 2013 Lean Japan Tour and would highly recommend it for anyone who is serious about Lean Manufacturing. Ben and Paul are well organised and have put together a great tour. The tour is very enjoyable and a great insight into Lean manufacturing. I have come back with a greater appreciation for Lean Manufacturing and excited about where we can go with the ideas and knowledge I brought back with me from the tour. Paul and Ben, WELL DONE.
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This tour was recommended to me by our VP Operations who undertook the tour the previous year. Both Ben and Paul provided an excellent tour of the Japanese manufacturing industry and the program was both well run and highly focused towards the practical implementation of lean strategies. There were plenty of opportunities to ask questions of the particular line managers as well as the teams which implemented the lean techniques. I would have no hesitation in recommending this tour.
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A great mix of Japanese Business Etiquette, site visits show-casing lean principles, Japanese Culture and networking with the other members of the group. Both Ben & Paul were professional yet relaxed and friendly. Their relationships with key personnel in strategic lean businesses is impressive and their ability to translate quickly & accurately minimised the language barrier. I thoroughly recommend the Shinka Lean Japan Tour to any person wanting to improve their understanding of lean principles and see working examples of gemba, kaizen, TPS, kanban, andon & jidoka, etc.
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I highly recommend the Lean Japan Tour – it provided a very good insight, was well organised and is led by guys who are clearly very passionate for lean and Japan.
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