Shingo Study Tour to JAPAN

As participants of the Shingo Study Tour to Japan, May 20-25, 2012, you will see and experience first-hand what is at the heart of the lean business model through a series of plant tours, work-shops, and peer networking. This will truly be a life and career changing trip.

 

Through this tour, we bring you through a full immersion experience in Just-in-Time culture. The Shingo Study Tour to Japan is designed to open your eyes, broaden your vision, deepen your understanding of lean principles, systems, and tools - ultimately transforming attitudes about what is possible through continuous improvement. Several basic tours to Japan show the impressive tools and systems that captivate the attention of many. The Shingo Study Tour takes you one step further to see what many fail to see.

 

Price: $9,200
Includes hotel, plant visits, The Shingo Prize Executive Education Workshop, trains and buses in Nagoya, Japan, extended time with tour guides and The Shingo Prize instructors, translators, and some meals. The tour will start early Sunday morning (May 20) and end late Friday evening (May 25).

 

Register three or more and receive a 10 percent discount.

 

Dowload the agenda

 

What you will see
We will see the tools and systems of operational excellence in action. We will visit companies that demonstrate excellence in the fundamentals such as 5S, visual management, problem solving, standardized work, quality at the source, safety, continuous flow, intelligent automation, and much more. It is a sign of their commitment to operational excellence that our host companies are willing to show us the best of what they have done. By sharing their best practices with others, these companies are motivated and challenged to rise to a higher level of performance.

 

What we will help you see
The Shingo Prize leadership and subject matter experts will help the group identify and analyze behavior consistently driven by the systems – such as empowerment, involvement, quality mind-set, focus, and passion. The Toyota Culture is not about tools and systems; it is about people. We will show you how you can create and drive the same behavior at your company.

 

What we will do
After each company tour, the group discusses and documents:
1.) Best practices that were observed and the principles behind them
2.) The driving system(s) behind the best practice
3.) How the system could be adapted in your own company to drive the same behavior

 

Why Japan?
The study tour is conducted in Japan, because there is no other place in the world today where so many outstanding companies can be visited and studied in such depth and efficiency in a short time period. The Japanese industry adopted the ideas of Henry Ford, Dr. W. Edwards Deming, and others much more thoroughly and rapidly than most Western countries over the past 75 years. For a country with such a small landmass, there are an amazing number of world-class companies. This fact combined with the excellent high speed rail and transport system makes travel within Japan very… lean.

 

Visit some of Japan’s best operational excellence companies

(companies are subject to change)

      Mitsubishi Electric

The Mitsubishi Electric Group operates on the corporate principle of contributing to creating a vibrant and affluent society by enhancing its technologies, services, and creative powers, as a leader in the manufacture and sales of electric and electronic equipment used in energy and electric systems, industrial automation, information and communication systems, electronic devices, and home appliances.

 

 

 

            AVEX

Under the motto, "The development of a company starts with the development of human resources," AVEX trains engineers who can machine and grind components on a micron scale. Their high skills enable AVEX to operate an integrated system to produce everything from prototypes to mass-produced products.  In fiscal year 2006, AVEX was selected as one of the "A Selection of 300 of Japan's Monozukuri (Manufacturing) SMEs".

 

Hydraulic control valves for automotive transmission systems require extremely high precision to ensure their accurate sliding movement in the systems.  The valve outer diameter tolerance must be within just +/-0.0008 mm.  The smooth acceleration and deceleration of automatic cars depends on AVEX's technologies embodied in these valves that are almost the same size as a finger.

 

 

 

            Toyota Industries Corporation

Toyota Industries Corporation was founded in 1926 by Sakichi Toyoda to manufacture and sell the automatic looms, which he had invented and perfected. Since that time Toyota Industries has promoted diversification and expanded the scope of its business domains to include textile machinery, automobiles (vehicles, engines, car air-conditioning compressors, etc.), materials handling equipment, electronics, and logistics solutions.

 

With production bases in North America, Europe, and Asia (China and India), as well as a worldwide sales network, centered around their materials handling equipment and textile machinery segments, the operations of the Toyota Industries Group span the globe.

 

In November 2006, Toyota Industries celebrated its 80th anniversary. With over 43,516 employees on staff, the company had net sales of 1,543.3 billion yen or approximately USD$19.3 billion. They remain committed to the further development of their businesses and the unwavering pursuit of sustained innovation and creativity.

 

 

 

 

 

    Toyota Motor Corporation Tahara Plant

Toyota Motor Corporation, Japan’s No. 1 carmaker, creates cars, pickups, minivans, and SUVs, which include models such as Camry, Corolla, 4Runner, Land Cruiser, Sienna, the luxury Lexus line, the Scion brand, and the hybrid brand. Toyota sells its vehicles in more than 170 countries and regions worldwide. Toyota`s primary markets for its automobiles are Japan, North America, Europe, and Asia. Toyota also makes forklifts and manufactured housing, and offers consumer financial services. They have a driving ambition to become greener. The company makes a hybrid-powered (gas and electric) Sedan, the Prius, that is being snapped up in US and European markets. The company has $5.16 billion (397.05 billion yen) in recorded capital as of March 2011 and 69,125 employees worldwide.

 

 

 

 

 

  TOTO

TOTO LTD. is a leading Japanese manufacturer of plumbing products, including toilets, urinals, faucets, toilet seats, water heaters, new ceramic materials and system products, which include modular bathrooms, system toilets, modular kitchens, modular vanity cabinets, indoor and outdoor tiles, artificial marble countertops, and plastic and enameled cast-iron bathtubs. Though traditionally a business specializing in water-related household products, TOTO has further expanded its product line into nonhousehold projects such as those for hotels and offices. The company's overseas operations include sales companies and branches in China, Hong Kong, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan, the United States, and Vietnam; and manufacturing companies in China, Germany, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, South Korea, Taiwan, Thailand, and the United States. Despite TOTO's increasing global presence, the vast majority of its sales are generated domestically.

 

 

 

 

        Toyota HOME

Toyota HOME at Kasugai Housing Works, a plant for prefabricated housing run by Toyota Motor Corp., prides itself on the same production methods that gave the Japanese automaker a reputation for quality and efficiency around the world. Toyota HOME is mass produced like Toyota cars. About 85 percent of the work on the metal frame cubicles is finished at the plant. The prefabricated cubicles, made to order for the customer, are stacked like toy blocks with a huge crane and topped with a roof in just six hours. The cubicles, called units, vary in size, with the bigger ones measuring 20 feet long. An average Japanese home requires 12 units. A buyer chooses from several designs, ranging from sleek modern to standard fare with tiled roofing and balcony windows.

 

 

 

 

 

        Toyota Commemorative Museum of Industry and Technology

The TOYOTA Commemorative Museum of Industry and Technology was established in June, 1994, in Sako, Nagoya Nishi Ward. The museum's mission was to systematically introduce the history of Japanese manufacturing technology to those who will be responsible for its future development. The museum exhibits textile machinery, which was one of the core industries that helped build modern Japan, and the evolving world of automobile engineering that continues to drive the country's development. At the same time, the museum preserves, in its original form, the Sako Plant of Toyoda Automatic Loom Works, Ltd. (transferred from Toyoda Spinning & Weaving Co., Ltd.) as a part of our industrial heritage.

 

Sakichi Toyoda devoted his life to developing looms. His oldest son Kiichiro Toyoda adapted and developed the loom technology to build automobiles and founded the Toyota Motor Corporation. The TOYOTA Commemorative Museum of Industry and Technology is a cultural institution guided by the following core philosophy: the museum strives to communicate to society the importance of monozukuri (“making things”), to which Kiichiro Toyoda devoted himself as he worked to build a domestic automobile industry, and the "spirit of being studious and creative", as recorded by Sakichi Toyoda in his Invention Journal.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Your Tour Leaders

 

Jacob Raymer, Director of Education, The Shingo Prize for Operational Excellence
Jacob Raymer oversees the development of the framework and architecture of The Shingo Prize learning management system. He is also deeply involved in the creation of lean course-work, simulations, and workshops. Mr. Raymer leads the development and training of Shingo examiners and their understanding of the Shingo model and guidelines. He was part of the development team that refined the current Shingo model and continues research and application of the model for continuous improvement. Mr. Raymer has trained numerous individuals and various companies about the lean transformation that occurs by applying the Shingo model and its principles, he has taught in various industries including defense, automotive, food and chemical processing, healthcare, and others. Mr. Raymer received a master’s degree in business information systems with an emphasis in instructional technology from Utah State University.

 

Ken Snyder, Executive Dean and Chief Administrative Officer, Jon M. Huntsman School of Business
Ken Snyder is an entrepreneurial leader of multiple successful start-up ventures, including Progressive Impressions International, Planar Circuit Technologies and Thin Film Technology. In his most recent position as president of Marketing Communication Inc., he was able to start a corporate venture capital fund to drive growth and innovation in the group and the corporation while growing revenues from $25 million to over $80 million. He received his bachelor’s degree in history from the University of Utah in 1978 and later attended Harvard receiving his MBA in 1980.