Lean Tour to Japan – May 2015 – Shinka Management
The Australian Industry Group Lean Japan Tour will visit Tokyo and Nagoya in May 2015
The May 2015 Australian Industry Group Lean Japan Tour will be held on Sunday 17th through Saturday 23rd of May. The lean study tour will include lean management seminars, lean training and visits to several companies for discussions with senior management and factory visits.
For further details of the tour and a list of factories that we visit see our lean tour page.
Contact us to express your interest in participating or complete the registration form to sign up now.
Early-bird registration closes 14th February 2015.
The May tour is targeted at companies operating in Oceania. For companies operating in other geographies, please consider the July 2015 Kaizen Tour.
Example Itinerary (subject to change)
Sunday: Arrive Tokyo Narita
- Tokyo sightseeing
- Evening briefing and dinner
- Japanese Business Etiquette
Monday: Briefing and Factory Visit
- Food and beverage factory visit (TBC)
- Latest manufacturing trends
Tuesday: Nagoya – Site Visits & Training
- Toyota seat track plant visit
- Pressed component plant visit
Wednesday: Nagoya – Site Visits & Training
- Toyota pressed components supplier
- Toyota Production System Training
Thursday: Nagoya – Site Visits
- Metal One Isuzu factory visit
- Factory visit (TBC)
Friday: Tokyo – Site Visit & Debriefing
- Food and beverage factory visit (TBC)
- Time study and work sampling seminar
- Review Session
Saturday: Tokyo – Recovery
- Tokyo Sightseeing (Akasaka and Akihabara)
- Departure from Narita Airport
Learn more about our lean study missions
The Lean Japan Tour is Shinka Management’s flagship lean professional development program. For further detail about our lean study missions, see the Lean Japan Tour page, or read more about past participants’ Lean Mission Testimonials.

What our tour participants have said…
Had the pleasure to accompany Ben and clients on the 2007 Lean Japan Tour. I had worked with many Japanese, ASEAN, UK and US firms and as such have participated in benchmarking assignments and tours of their operations. Some involved attending and presenting at various strategy, productivity and quality management conferences. In that context, I…
read more
The one week Lean Japan Tour not only validates ‘how lean can make business sense’ but also provides the opportunity to learn and share with professionals across different industries.
read more
The whole tour was very professionally undertaken and led. Paul and Ben have to be congratulated for putting together a very informative and very enjoyable experience. The itinerary was excellent and to see from the raw material all the way through the supply chain through to the finished product was superb. I loved the thought…
read more
If I had to describe the Lean Japan Tour, I would describe it as a great “experience”. It was an experience in every sense – from being surrounded by a new culture, landscapes, food, people; and learning a successful and proven work philosophy with results that are maintained over time. We were able to learn…
read more
I thoroughly enjoyed my time on the November 2013 tour. I learned so much about Japanese culture and TPS. Despite coming from the IT industry, I was able to gain valuable insights on the philosophy and principles of Lean that I can apply in my industry. Ben and Paul are top-notch guides. Their wealth of…
read more
Contact us about a Lean Japan Tour
Speak to us about our tours.