Art Smalley was fortunate to have been one of the few Americans to work for Toyota in Japan for an extended period of time. From working on assembly lines to maintaining precision equipment to project management he experienced all facets of production life in Toyota. Combined with his proficiency in reading and writing the Japanese language he has keen insights on TPS that few in America possess. Subsequent to Toyota, Art was also director of lean for a large U.S. company that underwent a successful lean implementation program. Additionally he spent several years as a lean expert for the international management consulting firm of McKinsey & Company. “There is a decided over-emphasis in the west on simply using the tools of TPS. More attention needs to be applied on solving systemic manufacturing problems that will generate business results”.
Competing – Art Smalley
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