ABSTRACT
In June 2001, I have the pleasure of touring world-class Japanese factories in Nagoya and Toyota City*. This is part of the Gemba Kaizen™ and JIT (just-in-time) training given by the Kaizen Institute of Japan. I get to see the following factories up close:
• Toyoda Iron Works • Yamaha Motors • NGK Insulators (Chita factory) • Togo Seisakusho • Taiho Kogyo • Toyota (Takaoka factory)
What these factories have in common is that they practice JIT*, TPM*, and TQM*. Of course, those are prerequisites for becoming a world-class factory!
