Yamaha Corporation – Factory Tour
Yamaha corporation is one of the world’s leading musical instrument manufacturers. Founded in 1887 in Hamamatsu City, Yamaha started its journey as a piano and reed organ manufacturer through its founder Mr Torakusu Yamaha. Yamaha also manufactures high-quality audio and video equipment, semiconductors and other electronic components. The company is the largest shareholder of Yamaha Motor which started as an affiliated company but later became independent.

Corporate Information
- Company: Yamaha Corporation
- Foundation: 1887
- Location: Shizuoka Prefecture
- Main Business: Manufacturing of musical instruments, audio equipment and industrial machinery/components

Yamaha Corporation – Lean Characteristics
Quality Management, 5S, Visual Management
Yamaha Corporation is synonymous around the world for manufacturing quality musical instruments. The company has established a system to efficiently manufacture and supply products globally. Today, the company has its production and sales bases over 30 countries and regions around the world. Yamaha operates three factories in Japan for the production of musical instruments – all within Shizuoka Prefecture.
Yamaha is guided by the corporate philosophy of “Sharing Passion & Performance” and the company aspires to fulfil this mission by consistently providing high quality products and services that exceed their customers’ expectations.
The company controls the quality of its products based on its quality management system. The Quality Committee made up of quality control managers from different divisions including business and sales divisions deliberates on the corporate-wide quality policies, objectives and measures and deploys them to all business divisions as the directions of the president. Each division then sets its own quality objectives in line with the quality policies and objectives set by the president. The Corporation Quality Assurance Division checks the monthly quality reports submitted by each division and conducts quality audits to ensure every effort is made so that the target set by each division is fulfilled.
The company also has a good 5S implementation and visual management practices in place.

Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
It was great experiencing factories that have implemented simple and effective processes in the right manner. I enjoyed the stories from each sensei on their journey of kaizen and how they implemented it within their factories. Ben, Eri and Juan were incredible hosts, the whole tour was seamless and the content was really valuable. This…
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Doha, Qatar
A very valuable and well-organized experience. Getting good access to factories where TPS and lean manufacturing are used as well as the instruction from experienced instructors made this a very worthwhile experience. Participants should leave well equipped to train others as well as conduct kaizen practices themselves.
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Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
The whole tour was very professionally undertaken and led. Paul and Ben have to be congratulated for putting together a very informative and very enjoyable experience. The itinerary was excellent and to see from the raw material all the way through the supply chain through to the finished product was superb. I loved the thought…
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Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
Dear Paul, Ben and Eri, We would just like to take a moment to thank you for such a wonderful tour. You exceeded all our expectations for a week long journey – from your very professional approach and even more personal service. The week was extremely insightful, and we could not stop talking about what…
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Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
The Shinka lean study mission of Japan offers participants an opportunity to see what is possible in undertaking world class manufacturing. The insights that are possible on tours like this can really challenge what you think are the real key success factors for implementation and enhance the chance of success in your own journey.
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Koolywurtie, South Australia, Australia
The team at Shinka have done a sensational job of providing an in-depth tour with lots to learn about the Toyota Production System and lean manufacturing. The tour was carefully planned, and we got the most out of our time in Japan.
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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.
The above form is for inquiries related to the Lean Japan Tour program, Shinka Management consulting and training services, and lean manufacturing software products. Shinka Management does not represent Yamaha. For Yamaha-related product and service inquiries, please contact Yamaha directly.

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