The American Innovator – Japan – Day 1

Paul Akers, of The American Innovator, discusses what he learned on his first day of the Japan trip…a trip to study lean with Norman Bodek, who has published over 100 Japanese management books, and teaches the Best of Japanese management at Portland State University.

For more information on Norman Bodek, visit his website.

For more information on The American Innovator, visit our website or Facebook.

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Chris Gustafson, of Vintage Window Restoration, sent us this video showing a creative use of FastCap’s PowerMags. Never know when they will come in handy! For more information on this product, visit our website.

Quote from Chris, “I restore historic wood windows for a living and life is growing fast, I truly believe lean and kaizen has been a significant part of the rate of efficiency and growth. I’ve been following and learning lean for the past 2 years, did the book, seen the videos, shop is kaizened and 3-S’d. It’s been one hell of a ride.”

Do We Trust our People to make Lean Improvements?

Question: In practical application, what degree of control or oversight is in place governing the improvements employees may undertake on a daily basis, regardless of how large or small they may be? How to you prevent a runaway train? I understand that mistakes are ok and expected given that the greater good will prevail, just don’t quite grasp how you keep the rope tight on this issue.

Answer (from Paul Akers): We train of people like crazy. We have lean leads. We have expert lean implementers available for consultation.