Today’s guest is Jim Huntzinger. Jim began his career as a manufacturing engineer with Aisin Seiki (a Toyota Group company and manufacturer of automotive components) when they transplanted to North America to support Toyota. Over his career he has also researched at length the evolution of manufacturing in the United States with an emphasis on lean’s influence and development. In addition to his research on TWI, he has extensively researched the history of Ford’s Highland Park plant and its direct tie to Toyota’s business model and method of operation. Huntzinger is the President and Founder of Lean Frontiers and a graduate from Purdue University with a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering Technology and received a M.S. in Engineering Management from the Milwaukee School of Engineering. He authored the book, Lean Cost Management: Accounting for Lean by Establishing Flow, and was a contributing author to Lean Accounting: Best Practices for Sustainable Integration.
Today Jim and I will talk about:
- building communities within the lean community
- The economic potential of Lean
- The need to experience failure and setback to increase your rate of learning
- The history of Training Within Industry and how it’s benefits and success can be applied today.
- Learning by doing
- Jim’s new book, The Roots of Lean