Chocolate was the background yesterday to a two day management master class in keeping it lean in Adelaide. Thirty executives, from South Australian industries ranging from food and beverage to steel, were at Haigh’s factory in Mile End yesterday to listen to Toyota veteran Akinori Hyodo talk about lean manufacturing and kaizen, the Japanese art of continual improvement.
Japanese management techniques drawn straight from the production lines of that country’s industrial giants are making a surprising contribution to Australian firms as diverse as tech darling REA Group and transport operator Metro Trains. So-called “lean” production methods are exemplars of the rigour and consistency that Japanese industry — and indeed society — is known for.
Lean is a continuous improvement philosophy which is synonymous with Kaizen or the Toyota Production System. The history of lean management or lean manufacturing is traced back to the early years of Toyota and the development of the Toyota Production System after Japan’s defeat in WWII when the company was looking for a means to compete with the US car industry through developing and implementing a range of low-cost improvements within their business.
Our most recent Lean Japan Tour was held during the 18th through 24th of May in Tokyo and Nagoya, with the aim of showcasing the rich history that Japanese industry has in the fields of lean manufacturing, industrial engineering and continuous improvement (kaizen). The kaizen tour has been an annual initiative of Shinka Management for the past eight years and is designed to provide companies with lean training and first-hand experience of the world-class application of kaizen within Japanese industry.
Kavanagh Industries is a Western Sydney success story, specialising in the manufacture of sheet metal ducting. In February 2014, Managing Director Aidan Kavanagh invited members of the local lean community to join a factory tour of Kavanagh Industries’ Smithfield facilities. Kavanagh Industries is a family business that has grown to become Australia’s leading sheet metal duct manufacturer.
In November 2013 two staff from Lion’s brewing operations joined us on our Lean Japan Tour, and on their return kindly agreed to host a brewery tour at their Castlemaine Perkins Brewery this February for our clients in South East Queensland and local members of the Australian Industry Group. Lion is well-known in Australia as a leading beverage and food company employing 7,500 staff.
On the afternoon of the 3rd of February 2014, 38 leaders of South Australian industry gathered in Lonsdale for a factory tour of Redarc Electronics. The event was one of four organised in Australia in early 2014 by Shinka Management, with the Redarc tour held with the support of the Australian Industry Group. The company has over three decades of experience in designing and manufacturing electronic voltage converters and related products for commercial and recreational vehicles.
Japan has been a beacon for success in manufacturing for over half a century, yet it has faced challenges that would have crippled another nation – a market downturn caused by the global financial crisis, the 2011 triple disaster, and a drop in exports to China, and the high value of the yen to name a few.
Since visiting for the first time in 2011, I have been fascinated with the level of lean excellence at Rinnai. I recently had the pleasure to interview Mr Masao Kosugi, Director of Rinnai Corporation. Kosugi has been at Rinnai since they first started studying the Toyota Production System (TPS). Being a leading Japanese corporation, I am sure Rinnai were practicing a quite reasonable level of lean back in 1979. But a visit from Toyota’s Taiichi Ohno changed everything.
Lean manufacturing is a production philosophy that has evolved out of practices made famous by Japanese industry over the past several decades. During the week-long study tour participants learned about the implementation of lean manufacturing and continuous improvement practices in some of Japan’s top companies.