Hamamatsu City Government – Site Tour
Hamamatsu City is located on the western side of Shizuoka Prefecture and is the largest city in the Prefecture with a population of around 800,000. Hamamatsu is situated halfway between Tokyo and Osaka and is known as a city of “monozukuri” or creative manufacturing and is home to some of the world’s leading companies such as Honda, Suzuki and Yamaha.
Basic Information
- Population: 800,000
- Region: Tokai Region
- Area: 1,558 square kilometers
- Major Industries: Manufacturing of transport equipment, musical equipment, textile, electronic, optics etc.
Hamamatsu City Government – Lean Characteristics
Office-based improvement
Lean management started to seriously be applied to governments throughout Japan in the mid-1990s. As governments are not driven by profit, the interesting challenge for them in lean implementation is creating a need for improvement.
Hamamatsu City is recognised as one of the leading governments in Japan with a successful lean program. It’s “Good Job” movement is one of the key ways they achieve office-based improvement in work. It is designed as a bottom-up approach to drive government reform on a daily basis.
A strong spirit of improvement is fostered through teams and kaizen leaders. Good ideas are quickly shared and copied into other areas. Linking improvement with the manufacturing word of “muri” or overburden, many ideas generated are about making the tasks of the public servants easier and removing the difficult and frustrating aspects not only from them but also from their service users. The aim here is to create a more comfortable and enjoyable work environment.
The seminar with Hamamatsu City Council will focus on the Good Job program.
Zurich, Switzerland
It was an inspiring week with great learnings around lean and how it is applied across various levels of the supply chain. The tour also provides a nice glimpse into the Japanese culture with its amazing food and friendly people.
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Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
The thing about the Lean Japan Tour by Shinka Management is that it’s not focused only on production efficiency, but also involves the lean way of managing people & reducing waste as a path to improving an organization’s quality & efficiency. We had the chance to visit different plants, and the privilege of meeting sensei…
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Irvine, California, United States
I attended Shinka Management’s Lean Japan Tour and it was an incredible experience. The content was highly informative and practical, offering deep insights into lean culture and principles and their real-world applications. The organisation of the program was excellent, ensuring a seamless and engaging learning experience. I’d highly recommend this tour to anyone looking to…
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Singapore
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.
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Nelson, New Zealand
I had several projects that I had been procrastinating on. They seemed too big, too complicated and I was actually struggling to know where to start. Without a word of a lie, after the first day I came back to my hotel room and wrote up the backbone of my strategy using the skills I…
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Shanghai, China
I’d rate 100% for this trip. It fulfilled or even exceeded my expectations. Reasonable arrangement of class, practice and plant visits; and high quality service for everything during the trip.
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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.