JTEKT – Factory Tour
JTEKT Corporation is one of the Toyota Group companies that was created as a result of a merger between Koyo Seiko and Toyoda Machine Works. They are a major supplier of steering systems in the automotive sector, but also a manufacturer of bearings and machine tools for a variety of sectors including steel, railway, aerospace, construction, machinery, and others.

Corporate Information
- Company: JTEKT Corporation
- Establishment: 2006
- Location: Aichi Prefecture
- Main Business: manufacturing of steering systems, bearings, machine tools and mechatronics

JTEKT Corporation – Lean Characteristics
TPS, Kaizen, Smart Factory, IoE
JTEKT is a global manufacturing company that has 12 factories in Japan and over 40 production bases overseas. As a vital member of the Toyota Group, JTEKT thoroughly applies the Toyota Production System. However, the company is led by a set of guiding values called “JTEKT Way” and members of the JTEKT Group share a unified sense of the JTEKT values worldwide, which are made up of five key pillars summarized as: 1) customer first, 2) continuous kaizen, 3) aspiration for innovation, 4) teamwork and self-discipline and 5) ownership.
The company has been promoting a smart factory concept and recently been making a concerted effort to combine lean thinking with cutting-edge digital solutions through the introduction of IoE (Internet of Everything) into their operations. By connecting machinery and equipment to people and services, and processing the big data collected to be visible and actionable to people for analysis, weak points in the manufacturing processes can be better detected which were previously not always identifiable and quantifiable. As a result, more accurate decisions can be made to improve operations, and manufacturers are able to achieve next level efficiency, functionality, reliability and productivity.

For me, the Lean Japan Tour was a journey through different companies guided by experts who explained the tools and demonstrated how to live in a work culture based on continuous improvement. This allowed me to discover new concepts and approaches to facilitate the successful implementation of a kaizen culture in American companies.
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Personally and professionally I found the week extraordinarily rewarding – not only as a fantastic Lean Japan Tour but as a cultural experience not to be missed. Imagine if you will… taking a group of people you had never met before, under your wing, in one of the most crowded cities in the world. Plenty…
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Thank you for the well-organized and informative tour. It can be distracting to read and attend lectures about lean, but when combined with practical training and actual visits to the home of lean, it helps to clarify and connect all the dots. The tour was an eye-opening experience where we witnessed lean manufacturing principles in…
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The Lean Japan Tour was one of the best quality training programs that I’ve attended. The information is provided in a good learning environment and the hands on activities along with in-plant tours to see the lean concepts in action helped reinforce the concepts. There is so much I learned on this trip that I…
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I highly recommend the Lean Study Tour of Japan as an experience not to be missed. Having attended the tour for the past three years, supporting our clients, I have come away with new learnings every time. Whether you are new to Lean Thinking or well into your Lean Journey you will undoubtedly have an…
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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…
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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.