Kikuchi Gear – Factory Tour
Kikuchi Gear is a well-established gear manufacturer based in the city of Ashikaga, Tochigi Prefecture. The company has 140 employees spread across their head office and six factories. Their products are used in leading-edge industrial products in the aerospace, automotive, construction machinery and printing sectors.
Corporate Information
- Company: Kikuchi Gear Inc.
- Foundation: 1940
- Location: Ashikaga, Tochigi Prefecture
- Main Business: Manufacturing of gears, gearboxes and gear pumps
Kikuchi Gear – Lean Characteristics
5S, Kaizen Suggestion Scheme
Kikuchi Gear is based in Ashikaga City, Tochigi Prefecture. The city is known as the City of 5S where over 200 factories and workplaces engage in 5S activities on a daily basis. This program is promoted by the Ashikaga Chamber of Commerce and Industry. Kikuchi Gear is one of the companies actively involved in the city’s 5S program.
The company produces a wide variety of high-quality gear products which are used in leading-edge industrial products in the aerospace, automotive, construction machinery and printing sectors. The quality products they need to produce in line with customer needs are achieved through their flexible production facilities.
Profit is key for any SME’s sustainability, and Kikuchi Gear recognizes that an organization of people with capability in kaizen will form a more resilient and stronger company to generate that profit. The visit to the company showcases Kikuchi Gear’s kaizen suggestion scheme as well as excellent examples of 5S. Kikuchi Gear are continually thinking about the future needs of society and their role within it.
The plant tour includes a presentation, a site tour and a Q&A session with senior managers.
Pforzheim, Germany
The Lean Japan Tour was the best lean management experience I have had. I wish I had done this earlier, so I could have done some things differently. One learns that some aspects of lean that one thought one knew, really have a different dimension to them. It helps to see lean management where it…
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I enjoyed every aspect of this extremely well organised kaizen tour including: factory visits, translations by Paul and Ben, TPS training, sightseeing, accommodation, transportation, and meals. This tour is a must for anyone trying to understand / implement LEAN into their business or organisation. I hope the tour continues for many years to come as…
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Lumut, Brunei
The tour shows how industries in Japan do continuous improvement in their respective companies. I think that such concepts could also be applied in other industries as well when applied correctly within its own framework. The tour also showcases some aspects of Japanese culture which I appreciate a lot as it provides insight into the…
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I am now back in the office in rainy Seattle and wanted to say a huge thank you, once again for making the lean tour such an enjoyable learning experience. There are so many valuable learnings and enriching experiences that I am looking forward to sharing with my team and colleagues here in the coming days. I…
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Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
Wonderful! I truly loved how we got a chance to see multiple tiers of the Toyota supply chain, and learned the true definition of some buzz words related to TPS. Getting a chance to see it all up-close was impactful.
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Guangzhou, Guangdong, China
This is a great lean tour! Through the week together we have participated in visits to local companies, classroom sessions and hands on exercises. It’s impressive to see how the Toyota Way is really working efficiently and effectively. The organizers are professional, and have good relationships with the sites we visited. They know what the…
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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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