Thank You Very Much

A nice message and interview received from a publisher –

“Mr. Akers: Thanks very much for your time recently in discussing Fast Cap, your political venture and your work on lean principles. I wanted to forward you a copy of the newsletter containing the interview, which I’ve attached. Please keep me posted on what’s going on with your activities, your company and the manufacturing community. Take care, have a great 2011.”

Bill Virgin
Editor and Publisher
Washington Manufacturing Alert

Nanjo Sobi and Sekisui Heim

My friend Brad Schmidt at Gemba sent me some information about Nanjo Sobi (very cool auto leather seat company) and Sekisui Heim (modular house maker). Both these companies refuse to think that people have limits. Nanjo pairs slow people up with fast people and encourages both to beat their speeds. They also give people licenses which means their product goes straight off their desk to the customer – no quality inspection and this is for automotive! Sekisui has their people divided up in teams and trains them to build a house just by reading a salesman’s drawing! (not like Toyota who spits out gobs of paperwork on how to do it).