Norman Bodek, President, PCS Press, and
co-founder of the Shingo Prize 2010 IW Manufacturing Hall of Fame Inductee
The Human Side of Lean
Over the past 20 years,
Norm Bodek has worked tirelessly to bring the best of Japanese management
theory to America. He is credited with discovering and publishing the works of
Dr. Shigeo Shingo and Taiichi Ohno, the inventors of the Toyota Production
System.
His knowledge has been gleaned from taking more than 70 trips to Japan and
visiting 250 plants. Believing that you must see the process in action, Bodek
has conducted 50 study missions for inquisitive executives.
He has published 100 Japanese management books on subjects including kaizen
blitz, SMED, TPM, QFD, hoshin kanri, poka-yoke and visual factory, which have
been indispensible tools in the continuous-improvement movement.
In 1988, he co-founded the Shingo Prize for Operational Excellence with
professor Vern Buehler at Utah State University.
At 78, Bodek is president of the Vancouver, Wash.-based publishing, consulting
and training firm PCS Press Inc., where he is working to broaden the
implementation of lean from the production floor to the entire enterprise. "I
see the evolution of lean from the factory floor to human development. My goal
is to find the best ways to grow employees in a way that will make us more
competitive," explains Bodek. "Every person at work should be empowered and
involved in the improvement process through their own creative ideas to make
their work easier, more interesting, build their skills and capabilities, while
at the same time improving communications throughout the organization,
improving customer service, improving quality, improving safety, improving
productivity and bringing new excitement and joy into the workplace."
Bodek believes that lean again will come to the rescue of manufacturing in
terms of providing a path to innovation. Developing the human side of lean will
empower people to take the time to look both within and outside their
organizations in an effort to create solutions that translate to new products
and markets, he believes.
