Back in Tokyo! After nearly two months back in the United States to visit family and friends, and for work purposes such as coaching and learning, I arrived back in Japan two weeks ago. After […]
My latest article for the Lean Post was just published: “Lean in Japan: An Outsider’s View”. The theme for this article is about how to bring intention to our experience of observation, and how this […]
After running into the former Chairman of Toyota, Mr. Cho, moments earlier at the Nagoya train station, I arrived at the first stop of the day – the Toyota Commemorative Museum of Industry and Technology. My tour […]
It has been surprising to me since moving to Japan six months ago to learn that very few hospitals and health systems are using Lean or the Toyota Production System principles in their operations. Japan […]
I’ve been spending a lot of time traveling on the Shinkansen and other trains for gemba visits to Japanese organizations and with my family on the weekends. Rail travel in Japan is impressive, but I’ve […]
Before I visited the Toyota Kyushu plant to talk with the Toyota TPS Promotion Office manager, I posted on social media to see if anyone had questions for me. I was able to ask two of the […]
Following our tour of the Toyota Kyushu plant, which I wrote about in an earlier post, my Japanese colleague was able to set up a personal meeting for us with the Toyota Production System (TPS) […]
Today I decided to get out of the hustle and bustle of the city, and I went on an excursion to a small rice farming town in near Mount Fuji. I usually travel by train, […]
The third site that I visited on my tour with Makoto in April demonstrated a deep practice of kaizen (continuous improvement) and a philosophy of waste elimination for global sustainability. (Update – 5th June 2015- I have been […]
I love living in Japan, but when it comes to cigarette smoking, I feel like I’m in a time warp. I hate that people can light up next to me at a restaurant and every […]
Copyright: Katie Anderson 2016