Even if you know and follow most of the continous improvement principles pioneered by Toyota, it's always good to hear from that company to learn or reinforce those lessons and see how the global manufacturing giant makes its system work in practical terms.
That's why we at IndustryWeek jumped at the opportunity to have Brett Wood, president and CEO of Toyota Material Handling North America, speak at our Operations Leadership Summit in Indianapolis this summer. Though early in his presentation, he vowed not to teach the Toyota Production System to the audience, he did share concrete examples of how to apply basic principles and the value the forklift manufacturer has gotten from it throughout the years.
IndustryWeek Executive Editor Jill Jusko has highlighted some of the takeaways from his presentation in recent months:
Bio: Robert Schoenberger has been writing about manufacturing technology in one form or another since the late 1990s. He began his career in newspapers in South Texas and has worked for The Clarion-Ledger in Jackson, Mississippi; The Courier-Journal in Louisville, Kentucky; and The Plain Dealer in Cleveland where he spent more than six years as the automotive reporter. In 2014, he launched Today's Motor Vehicles (now EV Manufacturing & Design), a magazine focusing on design and manufacturing topics within the automotive and commercial truck worlds. He joined IndustryWeek in late 2021.
