Virtual JKE

A key aspect of our work here at Gemba is the Japan Kaikaku Experience. We take business leaders to Japan to see the world’s best practitioners of lean.
This week, Kent Bradley, on his second tour of Japan, will share his experiences as JKE September 2005 gets under way. Join us for his daily reports.
– Luke
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Kent Bradley
VP, North America
For Jorge Rodriguez, it was a dark and stormy night. His flight to Tokyo was diverted to a different airport due to lightning.
Jorge was on his way to join 15 other business professionals representing four different companies for the September 2005 Japan Kaikaku Experience, Gemba Research’s week long intensive tour and study of various world class Lean facilities throughout Japan.
Thanks to some quick phone work by Naoko, Gemba’s travel coordinator for this trip, Jorge made it in time.
Just getting to Japan can be the toughest part. Day one was roughly 16 hours of travel on average depending on trip origin,. but the champs were probably Stefano Miriello and Filippo Casappa coming in from Italy.
Tomorrow starts off the “business end” of the week with a bang, with an overview and orientation, followed by a day long inspection of Omron, meeting with their key people and sharing thoughts and issues regarding Omron’s experience utilizing Lean. Then back to Kyoto for debriefing and a Lean principles refresher and simulation for our group, facilitated by Brad Schmidt and me, Kent Bradley.

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