2015 TWI Summit - Europe

Indianapolis, IN -- (ReleaseWire) -- 12/22/2014 -- effektivitet.dk, business through people, and Lean Frontiers have entered into a partnership to bring lean-related Summits and workshops to European business, industry and healthcare. Each organization independently provides products and services in Denmark, throughout Europe, and in North America. Lean, as taught by these organizations, is based on the Toyota Production System which has been widely adopted around the world in manufacturing, healthcare, service, banking, and government organizations, among others.

President and Founder of Lean Frontiers, Jim Huntzinger, explained the partnership, "We were each drawn to each other for a variety of reasons. effektivitet.dk is a non-profit association that since 1948 has brought knowledge on business productivity to their members, and is also the Danish associate for APICS' international supply chain certifications. Business Through People has rapidly developed an impressive reputation addressing critical people-centric solutions often missed in lean organizations. The company is associated with the TWI Institute, a non-profit organization whose mission is to certify TWI Master Trainers around the world. And Lean Frontiers has developed targeted lean-related events designed to engage the entire enterprise in a system of lean thinking. Together, we will offer companies throughout Europe some of the most advanced thinking in continuous improvement, by the world's most recognized leaders, and company practitioners blazing new ground."

The new trio's first event will bring world-renowned author, lean coach, keynote speaker, and former Toyota Manager, David Meier to Copenhagen. Meier is co-author of The Toyota Way Fieldbook and Toyota Talent, together with Dr. Jeffrey Liker, and David will lead a Master Class titled, "Creating a Culture of Problem Solving."

Christian Obbekaer Hansen, long-time effektivitet.dk representative, describes their vision, "While the Meier Master Class may be hosted in Denmark, this partnership is totally in line with our mission to seek and spread new knowledge from international experts and company visits to our members. The partnership will enable us to offer spectacular lean- related events to future generations of lean leaders".

The trio launches the European TWI Summit 17-18 Nov 2015 in Malmo, Sweden. TWI, which stands for "Training Within Industry," has its fingerprints on not only lean, but on all three of our organizations. TWI provides core skills to frontline supervisors in any industry. The training methodology provides key skills for anyone who manages people: Job Instruction provides skills in teaching jobs to frontline workers, Job Methods provides skills in improving job processes, and Job Relations provides skills in handling people issues before they become barriers to work.

John Vellema, founder and president of Business Through People added, "Together with effektivitet.dk we have run TWI Conferences in Denmark for the past two years, gathering many of the world's leading TWI trainers and practitioners. Lean Frontiers has a well-established following in its annual TWI Summit, held each year in North America. By coordinating the efforts of all three partners, we are pleased to now offer the TWI Summit in both North America and Europe. We will bring our unique expertise of the European business climate to TWI Summit Europe and hope to further develop the TWI community that formed in our earlier TWI Conference."

Go to http://www.twisummit.eu

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Indianapolis, IN -- (ReleaseWire) -- 07/08/2014 -- The Lean Product and Process Development Exchange (LPPDE) announced today that Dr. Jeffrey Liker, leading lean scholar and author of seminal works on Toyota including "The Toyota Way" and "The Toyota Way to Lean Leadership" will open the 2014 North American conference as keynote speaker. Liker joins Dr. James Morgan, co-author with Liker on "The Toyota Product Development System," at this year's conference as Morgan serves as Conference Chair for the 2014 event.

The LPPDE, North America enters its 7th year as an annual event and will take place on September 23-24, 2014 in Raleigh/Durham, NC at the Washington Duke Inn and Golf Club.

The full conference includes a day of optional pre-conference workshops on September 22nd with the main conference on the 23rd and 24th. Joining the team of keynote speakers are Joe Zekoski, Interim Chief Technical Officer and VP of Global Product Development at Goodyear, Kevin Nolan, VP-Technology, GE Appliances, and Dave Pericak, Chief Engineer, Mustang, Ford Motor Company. Zekoski will explain how Goodyear leveraged lean product development to achieve operational excellence. Nolan will describe exciting new initiatives like GE Fast Works, First Build and using lean product development to create new levels of product excellence. Pericak will share insights into the creation of the all-new, sixth-generation iconic Ford Mustang. Full conference details can be found at http://www.lppde.org.

Morgan describes the lineup of keynote presenters as integral to the conference theme of Delivering on Innovation, "A lean product/process development system's unique strength is its ability to both generate value creating innovation and delivering profitable value streams. This outstanding group of speakers will provide important and unique insights into the power of lean product/process development. We are incredibly fortunate this year to have a group of speakers who are each a world-class leader in their respective field sharing a wealth of experience."

Following keynote presenters, conference participants will choose from numerous breakout sessions based on real world case studies. Companies presenting case studies include IBM, Goodyear, Pfizer, Steelcase, Menlo Innovations, Herrero Builders, Janssen Research & Development, and Arthex Medical Devices among others.

"The 'E' in LPPDE stands for Exchange. And that's our goal… an exchange of ideas and experiences," Morgan explained as the conferences overarching goal. "We ask everyone, from presenters to attendees, to engage in this exchange by asking questions, challenging current thinking, and sharing opinions, best practices, successes and failures. That's a hallmark of an LPPDE event."

About The Lean Product and Process Development Exchange, Inc.
The Lean Product and Process Development Exchange, Inc. is a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization created to foster opportunities to grow and share the knowledge, expertise and experiences that help organizations use lean product development to dramatically improve product development performance.

LPPDE board members include…

- Jorrit De Groot, Head of Business Operations, Vaisala and Board Chair
- Bella Englebach, Sr. Director, Strategic Business Improvement, Janssen Research & Development and Board Secretary
- Rich Gildersleeve, Senior Vice President of Research & Development, DJO, Inc.
- Ronald Marsiglio, President, Knowledge/PD
- Jim Morgan, President at Emc Group, Senior Advisor at The Lean Enterprise Institute and former Ford global engineering executive is 2014 North American Conference Chair
- Peter Palmer, Senior Manager Process Support, Scania and 2014 European Conference Chair
- Katherine Radeka, President, Whittier Consulting Group, Inc.
- Tim Schipper, LEAN Management Office, Steelcase Inc. and Board Treasurer
- Durward K. Sobek II, Ph.D., Professor at Montana State University

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Partnership Brings KI founder, Masaaki Imai, to Lean Frontiers' 7th Annual TWI Summit

Indianapolis, IN -- (ReleaseWire) -- 03/14/2013 -- Kaizen Institute and Lean Frontiers announced today a partnership centered on Lean Frontiers' annual conferences. The first joint venture brings Masaaki Imai, Kaizen Institute founder, to the 7th Annual TWI Summit as featured keynote speaker. Future plans involve KIs participation in scheduled conferences in 2013 and beyond. The TWI Summit is being held May 14-15, 2013 in Savannah, GA. TWI Summit information may be found at http://www.twisummit.com.

Jim Huntzinger, founder and President of Lean Frontiers, described the partnership, "Kaizen Institute has provided pioneering kaizen thought-leadership for as long as any organization in existence. Their participation enhances the existing thought-leadership of our events in often-forgotten areas of the lean enterprise."

KI USA Director, Mike Wroblewski, added, "We look forward to introducing our clients to Lean Frontiers' events as well as contributing our extensive kaizen expertise to these same events. What a great start by introducing Masaaki Imai to the TWI audience."

Huntzinger noted that Imai had a profound influence on the reemergence of TWI in the United States and abroad. Imai's 1997 book titled Gemba Kaizen referenced TWI's influence on the Toyota Production System. This book started several lean practitioners on a search for a deeper understanding of TWI's influence, including Huntzinger, which eventually led to the launch of the annual TWI Summit in 2007.

About Kaizen Institute
Kaizen Institute (KI) is the longest-running consulting firm dedicated to kaizen and lean implementation. The company helps global and local organizations achieve optimum performance through kaizen strategies. KI was founded in 1985 by Masaaki Imai, one of the original pioneers who brought kaizen, lean thinking and an understanding of Japanese management practices to the West. His 1986 book, "KAIZEN: The Key to Japan's Competitive Success", was a bestseller and THE milestone in the global spread of Lean practices. http://www.kaizen.com

About Lean Frontiers
Lean Frontiers builds lean learning communities through their annual conferences, including the Lean Accounting Summit, TWI Summit, Lean HR Summit, Lean Logistics Summit, Lean Product and Process Development Exchange, and Lean Coaching Summit. Each Lean Frontiers' event is either focused on helping functional business units, like accounting and HR, understand their role in supporting the lean enterprise or addressing under-served gaps in lean with the TWI Summit and Lean Coaching Summit. http://www.leanfrontiers.com

About the TWI Summit
The annual TWI Summit is produced by Lean Frontiers and covers the Training Within Industry program. TWI was a World War II program designed to give supervisors skills in Job Instruction, Job Methods, and Job Relations. TWI was introduced to Japanese industry during post-war occupation and adopted by Toyota. Today companies seeking Toyota-like business model are turning to TWI because of its influence on Toyota's ability to achieve and sustain standard work, drive an improvement mentality to front-line workers, and foster a culture of respect-for-people. http://www.twisummit.com

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