About Us
The lean systems program is a university-industry partnership initiated by Toyota Motor Manufacturing, Kentucky's president, Fujio Cho, in 1994 to systematically explore, study, and teach the workings of the Toyota Production System (TPS).

For over a decade, we've been transferring our understanding of Toyota’s approach – what we call “lean systems” -- into practical working strategies. Our goal is to provide critical skill sets for leadership teams, management teams, and associates throughout the organization .

What are Lean Systems?
Lean manufacturing, the version of Toyota’s approach adapted for American industry, is a way to lower manufacturing costs by cutting wastes of all kinds. But it’s not just a toolkit.  Although concepts such as kanban, 5s, kaizen and so on are often discussed as if they could be applied in isolation, true lean practitioners soon realize that “lean” can’t be successfully applied piecemeal.

 Lean Systems Certification

That is, there’s no point in solving a problem here but creating something twice as bad ten feet away.  Or trying to implement lean on the production floor without the necessary lean accounting and human resources approaches to support it.  Doing lean successfully means seeing  (and solving problems) in your operations from a systems perspective.

Advantages of the partnership for our clients:

Current Knowledge
Our partnership with Toyota means we can offer the most current techniques for understanding and implementing the Toyota Production System. Other programs may teach some form of lean as it existed five, ten or even twenty years ago.
Reality Check
The opportunity to get feedback from a successful world class operation like Toyota gives us a special advantage: if we get off track we hear about it.
Better Success Rate
Just because many people have written books about lean doesn’t means everyone understands how lean is implemented or, better yet, can implement it.  It is estimated that 70% or more of companies that attempt to implement lean fail when using mainstream practices. We understand techniques for implementing lean so that it will last beyond the first kaizen. Being aware of the common failure modes and how to avoid them is one key.  We can also train your support staff to sustain lean improvements.
 
 
©Copyright 1997-2009, UK Center for Manufacturing, College of Engineering, University of Kentucky
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An Equal Opportunity University
Last Updated: June 23, 2009