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.

Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
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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Toulouse, France
Amazing Tour. Great experience to see and share with Japanese managers. I learned a lot about their culture, their way to think, to work and to improve by themselves. Great moments during training and after work. Thanks a lot. We will return back home with a new eye and mindset.
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Sanaswadi, Maharashtra, India
I am deeply grateful to Shinka Management, and to Paul, Eri and Ichi, for an outstanding Lean Japan Tour experience. Their expertise and hospitality made the journey both educational and enjoyable. The insights gained from visiting world-class lean organizations were invaluable, and the dedication of the Shinka team to ensuring we absorbed practical knowledge was…
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Adelaide, South Australia, Australia
I attended the tour in 2011 and found the whole experience very useful to build on my understanding of Lean Manufacturing. For those having a reasonable understanding of Lean this tour shows in detail the gap that Australia experiences to world class productivity practices. Most interesting was the deployment of essentially the key elements of…
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Bremen, Germany
I want to congratulate the Shinka Management Team for the fantastic organisation of the Lean Japan Tour 2023. The tour has been a business and life-changing experience for sure. On Day 1 I was already enlightened, and all the bits and pieces of a huge TQM puzzle came together to form a clear picture. The tour…
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Sanaswadi, Maharashtra, India
I recently had the opportunity to participate in the Lean Japan Tour by Shinka Management, and it was an exceptional experience. The tour is meticulously designed for a concise 7-day itinerary, providing deep and practical insights into Lean Manufacturing. The blend of informative sessions and real-world observations made the learning process both engaging and highly…
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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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