Kaikaku The Power and Magic of Lean, was recently awarded a Shingo Prize at the 17th annual Shingo Prize Conference in Grand Rapids, Michigan. The book, by PCS Inc. President and Quality Digest contributor Norman Bodek, follows his travels and discoveries in Japanese and U.S. manufacturing from 1979 to the present. Bodek is credited with discovering and publishing the monumental works of Dr. Shigeo Shingo and Taiichi Ohno, the inventors of the fabled Toyota Production System. He introduced the western world to kaizen blitz, SMED, TPM, poka-yoke, visual factory, Hoshin Kanri, kanban and value-stream mapping.

Bodek is a consultant, speaker and writer. He runs workshops on quick and easy kaizen, and he has been a frequent instructor and speaker for major organizations such as the American Management Association, President Reagan’s Productivity Conference and the American Society for Quality. In 1988, he initiated the Shingo Prize for Manufacturing Excellence with professor Vern Buehler.

The Shingo Research Prize recognizes research and writing about new knowledge and understanding of lean manufacturing. It’s administered by the College of Business at Utah State University.

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