Ishii Machinery – Factory Tour
Ishii Machinery is a well-established SME manufacturer based in the city of Ashikaga, Tochigi Prefecture, with 70 employees. The company engineers and manufactures a wide range of industrial precision components and equipment which are mainly supplied to the automotive and aerospace industries.
Corporate Information
- Company: Ishii Machinery Co., Ltd.
- Foundation: 1888
- Location: Ashikaga, Tochigi Prefecture
- Main Business: Manufacturing of industrial precision components and equipment
Ishii Machinery – Lean Characteristics
5S, Just-In-Time Production
Ishii Machinery shares a history of monozukuri (Japanese art of making things – manufacturing) with the likes of Toyota and Suzuki Motor. Their origins lie in the manufacturing and sales of loom machines in the 1800s. Their product lines have expanded to equipment and components for the aerospace, automotive and other sectors.
Based in Ashikaga City which is known as the City of 5S where over 200 organizations participate in 5S activities on a daily basis, the company also has been actively involved in the Ashikaga-style 5S Program. 5S is used as the basis for their Just-In-Time production control system in only producing and transporting what is required, at the time it is required, in the quantity it is required. This is their response to the increasing expectations of their customers and society in general.
The plant tour includes a presentation, a site tour and a Q&A session with senior managers.
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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I personally believe that understanding of Lean as the holistic concept and Lean instruments is necessary for all the managers in any business. Shinka Management introduced for us the origins of Lean Production and provided a great opportunity to observe real companies where TPS principles are both implemented and being polished daily. Important parts of…
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This trip really enlightened me in some specific lean topics and showed me all the beneficial aspects of lean manufacturing. The biggest take away for me was a deeper appreciation of not just the tools but the philosophy. The way the trip was organised and flowed was amazing. Thanks to Paul and David from Shinka…
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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…
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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 fact that you can go past all the books and see the Toyota Production System in action first hand is fantastic. It is not sold in a complicated form by those involved but rather the opposite. The training room was found to be hands on and simple allowing us to touch and feel examples…
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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.
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