Lead by Dr. Jeffrey K. Liker, author of numerous best selling books including The Toyota Way, The Toyota Product Development System, A Guide To Lean Shipbuilding, and More… Also author of dozens of articles on applying Lean in the Plant and Above the Shop Floor.. Winner of 12 Shingo Prizes.
Company overview
Liker Lean Advisors(LLA) is uniquely positioned to offer innovative ideas germinated through our associations with numerous leading edge lean research organizations.
We have applied the Lean principles in all types of businesses including heavy industries, light industry, services, non-profit and research organizations., We applied Lean in Manufacturing and adapted the lean principles to the Service industry, Office environments and Product Development. Whether a small or large company, local implementation or enterprise-wide assistance, LLA has the ability and experience to meet your challenges.
Liker Lean Advisors has searched long and hard for exceptional individuals who bring in-depth experience and change management skills to the application of lean methods and philosophies. Our team is uniquely qualified to bring lean concepts to implementation services throughout the lean enterprise. Enabling means coaching and supporting the client, not taking over. We believe that clients learn Lean best by directly applying what they learn from their sensei to their in-house processes. Liker Lean Advisors believes that we are only successful if the client can carry on without us.
Our Approach
Our renowned coaching programs will touch on the following points:
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Improving the Value Stream drives true system improvement and helps drive Lean into the culture
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People learn Lean by doing
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The kaizen workshop is one powerful tool for implementation, but not the only tool
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We will get Buy-in through involvement; workshops are great for buy-in (participants and affected people through communication), learning, and as a ‘catalyst’ for change
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If they “see it, they own it”; we ‘give away’ materials and sell implementation and facilitator ‘certification’ in each style of workshop and tool
- We need to ‘certify’ on-site Facilitators to successfully lead Lean workshops
- We will use the same ‘base’ materials for each client (even at multiple sites)
- “Quick and Crude is better than Slow and Elegant”; During our workshop our motto is: “Just Try It”
Wide Range Of Clients
A Few Words on How we work
The Product Development Experience
The only in-depth research on Toyota’s Product Development system in the world has led to a teachable methodology at the University of Michigan led by Jeff Liker. This has led to a number of publications, consulting and training materials. We went on at University of Michigan to study Toyota in much greater depth through Jim Morgan’s dissertation research drawing on his twenty years of body in white experience. We have learned about Toyota’s system in much greater depth, including new methodologies within Toyota. We have also turned this body of knowledge into the University of Michigan certification program and consulting programs for various companies through Liker Lean Advisors.
No one else in the world, as far as we know, has directly studied and developed a teachable methodology for Toyota’s product development system. The Toyota Way, was in its third printing in just 6 months and has received acclaim from a variety of media sources and within Toyota itself. Since then, The Toyota Way Fieldbook on implementation, and Toyota Talent and Toyota Culture has just recently been released and focuses on developing people in a Lean organization. Lastly, The Toyota Product Development System is the most thoroughly documented view into Lean Product Development and has won the Shingo prize.
Lastly, not only have we studied and taught the Lean Product and Process Development, we have applied the principles at Northrop Grumman, Tenneco, Johnson Controls, Peugeot-Citroen, Schlumberger, Harley-Davidson, and Caterpillar.
“LEAN and the Toyota Way is less about tools, as it is a Mindset of Continuous Improvement and Rapid Learning…Involve the people closest to the work, use simple metrics, trust that the best solutions will be revealed and tremendous engagement will result”
