Rinnai – Factory Tour
Rinnai Corporation is a Japanese multinational heat and energy appliance manufacturer headquartered in Nagoya, Japan. The company has 14 subsidiaries and production bases in Japan as well as over 30 manufacturing subsidiaries overseas.

Corporate Information
- Company: Rinnai Corporation
- Foundation: 1920
- Location: Headquartered in Aichi Prefecture
- Main Business: Manufacturing of heating products
Rinnai Corporation – Lean Characteristics
TQS, TPM
Rinnai’s catchphrase “quality is our destiny” epitomizes a corporate obsession with quality. They keep production of key components in-house at three of their own factories and 14 manufacturing affiliates under the Rinnai Group umbrella in Japan. By realizing this high in-house production ratio, they have control over quality and strive for zero-defect status.
The basis for manufacturing and all aspects of the process at Rinnai is to think and act from a scientific perspective. They have built a market-orientated production system that combines policy management, the quality control cycle, and continuous improvement proposal activities, based on a bottom-up approach heavily influenced by the Toyota Production System, and utilizing Total Productive Maintenance and Total Quality Management.
All employees participate in improvement and TPM efforts. They maintain a multi-product, mixed-flow production system based on actual demand. Through their own logistics network, they can realize timely delivery.



Kuching, Sarawak, Malaysia
I achieved my objective of learning about Japanese work culture and useful practices to increase work efficiency. The program had a good balance of classroom learning and plant visits. The Shinka Management team, Paul, Juan & Ichi were very helpful ensuring each and every one of us were well taken care of. Also not forgeting…
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Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
I joined the tour with little understanding of lean. This tour opened my eyes to the possibilities of what can be achieved through continued focus on improvement and team work at all levels. The plant tours showcase the Kaizen and 5S principles perfectly. The surprising thing for me is that safety and quality were paramount…
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Newcastle, New South Wales, Australia
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…
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Sindelfingen, Baden-Württemberg, Germany
The Lean Japan Tour was brilliant. It was full of activities, insights and learning. In addition, the organization and the schedule were perfect.
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Hamilton, Waikato, New Zealand
An outstanding experience. The opportunity to learn and build knowledge with experts in the principles of lean management was first class. The Japan context simply makes all the difference in putting that learning into context and allowed me to get “under the hood” of how it is really applied in practice through a variety of…
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Délégation Sfax Ville, Sfax, Tunisia
First of all, I want to express my sincere gratitude for this unforgettable trip. From the beginning, the level of organization and attention to detail was outstanding. The program was well thought out, providing a perfect balance between plant visits, theoretical training, and practical experiences. It’s evident that a lot of thought and effort went…
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The Shinka Management Lean Japan Tour is a professional development program run several times annually. The program includes a mix of lean and kaizen seminars, hands-on lean training and visits to several benchmark lean companies. For further information and program dates, see the lean tour overview page.
Tour Inquiries
Interested in joining us in Japan? For additional information prior to registration please fill in the form provided or contact us.
