KOHSAKA, Hiroshi
Career profile: Toyota Motor Corporation, Aichi Steel Corp.
KOHSAKA worked at Toyota Motor Corporation as Director-in-Charge of Production Control Division within Physical Distribution Department as well as of Purchasing Division within Purchasing Control Department. He also held a position as Managing Director-in-Charge of Personnel/General Affairs/Purchasing/Accounting at Aichi Steel Corp. He was a full-time auditor there as well.
KOSAKA, Zenji
Career profile: Toyota Motor Corporation, Shinmei Co. Ltd.
At Toyota Motor Corporation KOSAKA, he held a managerial position in both Machinery and Production Administration Departments of Honsha (head office) plant. He also served as Deputy Plant Manager. Later at Shinmei Co., Ltd., he was Vice President and President, and then Honorary Chairman.
He was trained by Mr. Taichi OHNO, a pioneer of TPS (Toyota Production System), from the system’s infancy and had the opportunity to put the theory into practice. To KOSAKA, who continues to pursue the principles of TPS, the driving force of ‘Kaizen’ (continuous improvement) has always been people. His motto goes like this – “if you want someone to work, show him how to do it, explain it, let him try it, and don’t forget to praise him if he does a good job”. He is also an expert in machining and assembly.
TAKASAKI, Akira
Career profile: Toyota Motor Corporation, Aisan Industry Co., Ltd.
TAKASAKI’s role at Toyota Motor Corporation was as Manager of Production Engineering Department and Manager of Production Administration Department at Teiho Plant. He was Director at Aisan Industry Co., Ltd.,
A TPS specialist, he is an engineer in the real sense of the word and a versatile one at that. His expertise lies with development of production technology, and with plant and equipment. He also takes a keen interest in quality control. He has a wealth of experience in advising on facilities set-up and metal mould production and also in acquisition of patents.
NOMURA, Iwao
Career profile: Toyota Motor Corporation, Kyoho Machine Works Ltd.
NOMURA was Manager of Production Technology Department (vehicle assembly, resin components, coating) at Toyota Motor Corporation. He was Managing Director at Kyoho Machine Works Ltd.
He was part of the team that propelled construction of Toyota’s new plants and implemented smooth start-up of production of new products. He was involved in a number of major projects such as building plants at Takaoka, Tsutsumi, Tahara, Toyota Kyushu Miyata, Kentucky (USA), NUMMI (USA), TMUK (UK) and TMMC (Canada). He specialises in production technology and quality improvement in a wide range of areas, from coating of vehicle bodies and parts to vehicle assembly.
KITAMURA, Toae
Career profile: Toyota Motor Corporation, Aichi Rikuun Co., Ltd.
KITAMURA held a position as Vice-Chief of Production Control Department and of Materials Distribution Planning Department at Toyota Motor Corporation. He is Director at Aichi Rikuun Co., Ltd.
He is an expert of Toyota’s distribution system. He played a very active role in construction and improvement of the system in various distribution areas stretching from on-site distribution, distribution between factories, procurement, delivery to overseas operations. Armed with invaluable know-how, KITAMURA has been very successful as consultant to distribution warehouses, shops, airports, etc.
IKEMOTO, Kohichi
Career profile: Toyota Motor Corporation, TOYOTA Auto Body Co., Ltd.
IKEMOTO was Manager of Production Technology Department at Toyota Motor Corporation. He later became Vice-President of TOYOTA Auto Body Co., Ltd.
A TPS specialist. He specialises in press dies and press production technology. He provided guidance in various manufacturing processes including pressing, welding and assembly at affiliated companies and his experience with press die factories is very extensive.
SATOH, Etsuro
Career profile: Toyota Motor Corporation, TOYOTA Auto Body Co., Ltd.,
SATOH held posts of Manufacturing Manager and Deputy General Manager at Tahara Plant while at Toyota Motor Corporation. He was Director General Manager of Honsha (head office) Plant, Vice President and Advisor at TOYOTA Auto Body Co., Ltd. He serves as Director of the Chubu District IE Association and Tokai District Branch Manager of the QC (Quality Control) Circle.
A TPS specialist. He is a plant managing expert, specialising in assembly technology. Having been trained at an assembly factory by the late Mr. Taichi OHNO among other forerunners, he was responsible for introducing the system to affiliated companies. SATOH is also a skilled lecturer of Toyota Production System.
HAYASHIDA, Hiromitsu
Career profile: Toyota Motor Corporation, Horie Metal Co., Ltd.
HAYASHIDA was Manufacturing Manager and Deputy General Manager at Tahara Plant while at Toyota Motor Corporation. He then held a position of Director at Gifu Body Industry Co., Ltd and of Executive Director at Horie Metal Co., Ltd.
A TPS specialist. His expertise lies with welding and assembly technology. He promotes Kaizen (continuous improvement) that comprehensively encompasses entire factory operations including procurement and production control. He is well-versed in giving advice to different types of factories and plants.
TAKAHASHI, Akio, D. Eng.
Career profile: Toyota Motor Corporation, Aichi Steel Corp.
At Toyota Motor Corporation, Dr. TAKAHASHI held a position of Manager of Vehicle Body Division of Honsha (head office) Plant and also of Manager of Production Preparation Department. He was Director-in-Charge of forging plant and Senior Director-in-Charge of Production Technology and R&D while at Aichi Steel Corp.
A TPS specialist. He can provide advice in a wide range of areas including safety, product quality, production and cost control. His outstanding expertise is found in original technology such as forging and cold forging.
MINEGISHI, Susumu
Career profile: Toyota Motor Corporation
MINEGISHI was Chief Foreman of Honsha (head office) Plant of Toyota Motor Corporation.
He is a real professional who shouldered the weight of the assembly lines of Honsha (head office) Plant. His no-nonsense, uncompromising attitude towards goings-on on the shop floor has earned him respect and many followers. He is busy as a technical training group trainer and is dedicated to various on-site education and training programmes including Toyota Production System.
FUJII, Mitsuru
Career profile: Toyota Motor Corporation
FUJII was Chief Foreman of Honsha (head office) Plant of Toyota Motor Corporation.
He is another true professional who knows the factory shop floor like the palm of his hand. He was responsible for the smooth running of the assembly lines of Honsha Plant. His passion for the shop floor is second to none. He is a technical training group trainer and is busy working on various on-site education and training programmes including Toyota Production System.
SUZUKI, Kohichi
Career profile: Toyota Motor Corporation
SUZUKI worked in Honsha (head office) Plant Machinery Division of Toyota Motor Corporation.
He put TPS into practice in various workshops such as machining, assembly, welding and outsourced product acceptance within Machinery Division of Honsha (head office) Plant, where the inception of Toyota Production System took place. His experience and achievements to date are in production control, quality control and work shop management. He firmly believes in the theory that “quality is built into product during manufacturing process”. He also has extensive experience in working overseas.
TAKEUCHI, Toshio
Career profile: Tokai Rika Co., Ltd.
A TPS specialist. TAKEUCHI is involved in Kaizen (continuous improvement) operations of vehicle component factories/plants and is extremely skilled in giving advice to assembly and machining workshops. TAKEUCHI puts a lot of effort into personnel training with the principles of TPS at its core. He has a real talent when it comes to motivating people on the shop floor, no matter what industry. He has ample overseas experience and is excellent at TPS and 5S seminars.
ARAI, Keisuke
Career profile: Mitsui Zosen Plant Engineering Inc.
ARAI specialises in improvement and innovation leading to an explosive increase in production efficiency (productivity) that stems from decreased planning and production lead time, zero defect design and production system, cost-cutting, flexible manpower line, set-up improvement, JIT planning and management reinforcement.
SHISHIDO, Toshio
Career profile: Canon Electronics Inc.
SHISHIDO worked as Safety and Sanitation Section Manager of Safety and Sanitation Centre, Canon Head Office Personnel Division.
He launched the print circuit board mounting workshop and implemented shop floor management that succeeded in combining safety and cost effectiveness. At Canon he was the first to introduce a safety and sanitation management system into the work place and was credited with achievement resulting from his tireless promotion of the system that stems from the principle of “a company will make profit if it tackles safety and sanitation head on”.
HIROE, Tatsuhiko
Career profile: Fuji Electric Holdings Co., Ltd.
HIROE held positions of Materials Section Manager, Production Section Manager and Production Control Manager at Chiba Plant of Fuji Electric Holdings Co., Ltd. He was also President of Shanghai Fuji Electric and of Shandong Fuji Electric, China.
He specialises in structural improvement of plant management. He seeks out problems in management indicators and thoroughly investigates them before stepping in with his improvement strategy. His motto is “work should be enjoyable”; but he is famous for not letting any cost price slip past his attention within the plant!
SAWADA, Ken’ichi
Career profile: Sony Corp.
SAWADA puts into practice clean air technology, quality control and, moreover, manufacturing process improvement that should be controlled within the semiconductor manufacturing process (LED, CRD, LCE, SC wafer, etc.) He is a BCM (Business Continuity Management) as well as ISO9001 certificate acquisition expert.
YARINOME, Takeshi
Career profile: Toshiba Corp.
YARINOME carried out overall operations improvement that included technical, purchasing and production control departments of a semiconductor manufacturing plant. He specializes in the preceding stage of processing technology, the succeeding stage of assembly technology, productivity Kaizen operations, clean room design and Six Sigma.
FURUYAMA, Katsuyoshi
Career profile: Ricoh Co., Ltd.
With his experience in drafting business planning as well as production preparation and line operations within the manufacturing key process, FURUYAMA has been busy carrying out improvements in corporate structure of both domestic and international production related businesses. He drew up a manual for gembakaizen (shop floor improvement) called SLIM Kaizen. A main characteristic of SLIM Kaizen is the way a worker goes into action having visualized his own ‘idea’; in other words, this improvement strategy enables to push up the daily management level by focusing on independent thinking. Naturally, its aim is to encourage an employee to feel: “The unknown is refreshing. Trying to come up with new ideas on a daily basis is exciting and interesting even though it can be difficult at times!”
SAKURAI, Naohiko
SAKURAI worked for Honda Motor Co., Ltd. as Machining Technical Chief of Suzuka Engine Factory.
He is a machining technology specialist. Through implementation of technological innovation in the field of machining, he perseveres with his pursuit of development of the next generation processing line that could compete with developing countries in terms of cost, so that future survival in the era of globalization could be ensured.
NAKAMURA, Shinichi
Career profile: Hino Motors, Ltd.
NAKAMURA worked for Hino Motors, Ltd. as Manager of Small Vehicle Production Investigation Room. He was also Sanitation Controller and an ISO9000 and ISO14000 specialist.
He is an expert of Toyota Production System that strives to avoid as much Muda (waste) as possible starting from materials procurement to final product delivery. He is blessed with a wealth of consulting experience with a number of corporations in various fields.
SAKUMA Masami
Career profile: Global Nuclear Fuel Japan Co., JAFCO Co. Ltd.
Specialty of SAKUMA is a design and development of new product based on the market research, and a productive and an efficient design process. On the production line, he also experienced productive development of production system such as QC and 5S.
TANIMOTO Kazuaki
M.S. and Ph.D., The Anderson School of Management at UCLA
Career profile: Senior Consultant, Academy of International Research Co. Ltd.
Tanimoto worked as a consultant of Strategic Management for Mid and Long term, Global and Sales planning of the large scale companies. Moreover, he conducted and operated an education program for CEO, CMO, COO and Corporate Entrepreneurs of Mid scale companies.
TERASAKI Akashi
Career profile: Manager of Production, Hitachi Co., Executive, Kokusan Denki Co. Ltd., CEO, Kokusan Tech Co. Ltd.
TERASAKI was the specialist and leader of TPS (Toyota Production System) in Hitachi group. He had experienced TPS application on the subsidiary of Hitachi in China, Korea, India and other JV’s. Beside the TPS education, he also plays a leading role of technical development and planning of a factory equipments.
KOHSAKA, Hiroshi
Career profile: Toyota Motor Corporation, Aichi Steel Corp.
KOHSAKA worked at Toyota Motor Corporation as Director-in-Charge of Production Control Division within Physical Distribution Department as well as of Purchasing Division within Purchasing Control Department. He also held a position as Managing Director-in-Charge of Personnel/General Affairs/Purchasing/Accounting at Aichi Steel Corp. He was a full-time auditor there as well.
KOSAKA, Zenji
Career profile: Toyota Motor Corporation, Shinmei Co. Ltd.
At Toyota Motor Corporation KOSAKA, he held a managerial position in both Machinery and Production Administration Departments of Honsha (head office) plant. He also served as Deputy Plant Manager. Later at Shinmei Co., Ltd., he was Vice President and President, and then Honorary Chairman.
He was trained by Mr. Taichi OHNO, a pioneer of TPS (Toyota Production System), from the system’s infancy and had the opportunity to put the theory into practice. To KOSAKA, who continues to pursue the principles of TPS, the driving force of ‘Kaizen’ (continuous improvement) has always been people. His motto goes like this – “if you want someone to work, show him how to do it, explain it, let him try it, and don’t forget to praise him if he does a good job”. He is also an expert in machining and assembly.
TAKASAKI, Akira
Career profile: Toyota Motor Corporation, Aisan Industry Co., Ltd.
TAKASAKI’s role at Toyota Motor Corporation was as Manager of Production Engineering Department and Manager of Production Administration Department at Teiho Plant. He was Director at Aisan Industry Co., Ltd.,
A TPS specialist, he is an engineer in the real sense of the word and a versatile one at that. His expertise lies with development of production technology, and with plant and equipment. He also takes a keen interest in quality control. He has a wealth of experience in advising on facilities set-up and metal mould production and also in acquisition of patents.
NOMURA, Iwao
Career profile: Toyota Motor Corporation, Kyoho Machine Works Ltd.
NOMURA was Manager of Production Technology Department (vehicle assembly, resin components, coating) at Toyota Motor Corporation. He was Managing Director at Kyoho Machine Works Ltd.
He was part of the team that propelled construction of Toyota’s new plants and implemented smooth start-up of production of new products. He was involved in a number of major projects such as building plants at Takaoka, Tsutsumi, Tahara, Toyota Kyushu Miyata, Kentucky (USA), NUMMI (USA), TMUK (UK) and TMMC (Canada). He specialises in production technology and quality improvement in a wide range of areas, from coating of vehicle bodies and parts to vehicle assembly.
KITAMURA, Toae
Career profile: Toyota Motor Corporation, Aichi Rikuun Co., Ltd.
KITAMURA held a position as Vice-Chief of Production Control Department and of Materials Distribution Planning Department at Toyota Motor Corporation. He is Director at Aichi Rikuun Co., Ltd.
He is an expert of Toyota’s distribution system. He played a very active role in construction and improvement of the system in various distribution areas stretching from on-site distribution, distribution between factories, procurement, delivery to overseas operations. Armed with invaluable know-how, KITAMURA has been very successful as consultant to distribution warehouses, shops, airports, etc.
IKEMOTO, Kohichi
Career profile: Toyota Motor Corporation, TOYOTA Auto Body Co., Ltd.
IKEMOTO was Manager of Production Technology Department at Toyota Motor Corporation. He later became Vice-President of TOYOTA Auto Body Co., Ltd.
A TPS specialist. He specialises in press dies and press production technology. He provided guidance in various manufacturing processes including pressing, welding and assembly at affiliated companies and his experience with press die factories is very extensive.
SATOH, Etsuro
Career profile: Toyota Motor Corporation, TOYOTA Auto Body Co., Ltd.,
SATOH held posts of Manufacturing Manager and Deputy General Manager at Tahara Plant while at Toyota Motor Corporation. He was Director General Manager of Honsha (head office) Plant, Vice President and Advisor at TOYOTA Auto Body Co., Ltd. He serves as Director of the Chubu District IE Association and Tokai District Branch Manager of the QC (Quality Control) Circle.
A TPS specialist. He is a plant managing expert, specialising in assembly technology. Having been trained at an assembly factory by the late Mr. Taichi OHNO among other forerunners, he was responsible for introducing the system to affiliated companies. SATOH is also a skilled lecturer of Toyota Production System.
HAYASHIDA, Hiromitsu
Career profile: Toyota Motor Corporation, Horie Metal Co., Ltd.
HAYASHIDA was Manufacturing Manager and Deputy General Manager at Tahara Plant while at Toyota Motor Corporation. He then held a position of Director at Gifu Body Industry Co., Ltd and of Executive Director at Horie Metal Co., Ltd.
A TPS specialist. His expertise lies with welding and assembly technology. He promotes Kaizen (continuous improvement) that comprehensively encompasses entire factory operations including procurement and production control. He is well-versed in giving advice to different types of factories and plants.
TAKAHASHI, Akio, D. Eng.
Career profile: Toyota Motor Corporation, Aichi Steel Corp.
At Toyota Motor Corporation, Dr. TAKAHASHI held a position of Manager of Vehicle Body Division of Honsha (head office) Plant and also of Manager of Production Preparation Department. He was Director-in-Charge of forging plant and Senior Director-in-Charge of Production Technology and R&D while at Aichi Steel Corp.
A TPS specialist. He can provide advice in a wide range of areas including safety, product quality, production and cost control. His outstanding expertise is found in original technology such as forging and cold forging.
MINEGISHI, Susumu
Career profile: Toyota Motor Corporation
MINEGISHI was Chief Foreman of Honsha (head office) Plant of Toyota Motor Corporation.
He is a real professional who shouldered the weight of the assembly lines of Honsha (head office) Plant. His no-nonsense, uncompromising attitude towards goings-on on the shop floor has earned him respect and many followers. He is busy as a technical training group trainer and is dedicated to various on-site education and training programmes including Toyota Production System.
FUJII, Mitsuru
Career profile: Toyota Motor Corporation
FUJII was Chief Foreman of Honsha (head office) Plant of Toyota Motor Corporation.
He is another true professional who knows the factory shop floor like the palm of his hand. He was responsible for the smooth running of the assembly lines of Honsha Plant. His passion for the shop floor is second to none. He is a technical training group trainer and is busy working on various on-site education and training programmes including Toyota Production System.
SUZUKI, Kohichi
Career profile: Toyota Motor Corporation
SUZUKI worked in Honsha (head office) Plant Machinery Division of Toyota Motor Corporation.
He put TPS into practice in various workshops such as machining, assembly, welding and outsourced product acceptance within Machinery Division of Honsha (head office) Plant, where the inception of Toyota Production System took place. His experience and achievements to date are in production control, quality control and work shop management. He firmly believes in the theory that “quality is built into product during manufacturing process”. He also has extensive experience in working overseas.
TAKEUCHI, Toshio
Career profile: Tokai Rika Co., Ltd.
A TPS specialist. TAKEUCHI is involved in Kaizen (continuous improvement) operations of vehicle component factories/plants and is extremely skilled in giving advice to assembly and machining workshops. TAKEUCHI puts a lot of effort into personnel training with the principles of TPS at its core. He has a real talent when it comes to motivating people on the shop floor, no matter what industry. He has ample overseas experience and is excellent at TPS and 5S seminars.
ARAI, Keisuke
Career profile: Mitsui Zosen Plant Engineering Inc.
ARAI specialises in improvement and innovation leading to an explosive increase in production efficiency (productivity) that stems from decreased planning and production lead time, zero defect design and production system, cost-cutting, flexible manpower line, set-up improvement, JIT planning and management reinforcement.
SHISHIDO, Toshio
Career profile: Canon Electronics Inc.
SHISHIDO worked as Safety and Sanitation Section Manager of Safety and Sanitation Centre, Canon Head Office Personnel Division.
He launched the print circuit board mounting workshop and implemented shop floor management that succeeded in combining safety and cost effectiveness. At Canon he was the first to introduce a safety and sanitation management system into the work place and was credited with achievement resulting from his tireless promotion of the system that stems from the principle of “a company will make profit if it tackles safety and sanitation head on”.
HIROE, Tatsuhiko
Career profile: Fuji Electric Holdings Co., Ltd.
HIROE held positions of Materials Section Manager, Production Section Manager and Production Control Manager at Chiba Plant of Fuji Electric Holdings Co., Ltd. He was also President of Shanghai Fuji Electric and of Shandong Fuji Electric, China.
He specialises in structural improvement of plant management. He seeks out problems in management indicators and thoroughly investigates them before stepping in with his improvement strategy. His motto is “work should be enjoyable”; but he is famous for not letting any cost price slip past his attention within the plant!
SAWADA, Ken’ichi
Career profile: Sony Corp.
SAWADA puts into practice clean air technology, quality control and, moreover, manufacturing process improvement that should be controlled within the semiconductor manufacturing process (LED, CRD, LCE, SC wafer, etc.) He is a BCM (Business Continuity Management) as well as ISO9001 certificate acquisition expert.
YARINOME, Takeshi
Career profile: Toshiba Corp.
YARINOME carried out overall operations improvement that included technical, purchasing and production control departments of a semiconductor manufacturing plant. He specializes in the preceding stage of processing technology, the succeeding stage of assembly technology, productivity Kaizen operations, clean room design and Six Sigma.
FURUYAMA, Katsuyoshi
Career profile: Ricoh Co., Ltd.
With his experience in drafting business planning as well as production preparation and line operations within the manufacturing key process, FURUYAMA has been busy carrying out improvements in corporate structure of both domestic and international production related businesses. He drew up a manual for gembakaizen (shop floor improvement) called SLIM Kaizen. A main characteristic of SLIM Kaizen is the way a worker goes into action having visualized his own ‘idea’; in other words, this improvement strategy enables to push up the daily management level by focusing on independent thinking. Naturally, its aim is to encourage an employee to feel: “The unknown is refreshing. Trying to come up with new ideas on a daily basis is exciting and interesting even though it can be difficult at times!”
SAKURAI, Naohiko
SAKURAI worked for Honda Motor Co., Ltd. as Machining Technical Chief of Suzuka Engine Factory.
He is a machining technology specialist. Through implementation of technological innovation in the field of machining, he perseveres with his pursuit of development of the next generation processing line that could compete with developing countries in terms of cost, so that future survival in the era of globalization could be ensured.
NAKAMURA, Shinichi
Career profile: Hino Motors, Ltd.
NAKAMURA worked for Hino Motors, Ltd. as Manager of Small Vehicle Production Investigation Room. He was also Sanitation Controller and an ISO9000 and ISO14000 specialist.
He is an expert of Toyota Production System that strives to avoid as much Muda (waste) as possible starting from materials procurement to final product delivery. He is blessed with a wealth of consulting experience with a number of corporations in various fields.
SAKUMA Masami
Career profile: Global Nuclear Fuel Japan Co., JAFCO Co. Ltd.
Specialty of SAKUMA is a design and development of new product based on the market research, and a productive and an efficient design process. On the production line, he also experienced productive development of production system such as QC and 5S.
TANIMOTO Kazuaki
M.S. and Ph.D., The Anderson School of Management at UCLA
Career profile: Senior Consultant, Academy of International Research Co. Ltd.
Tanimoto worked as a consultant of Strategic Management for Mid and Long term, Global and Sales planning of the large scale companies. Moreover, he conducted and operated an education program for CEO, CMO, COO and Corporate Entrepreneurs of Mid scale companies.
TERASAKI Akashi
Career profile: Manager of Production, Hitachi Co., Executive, Kokusan Denki Co. Ltd., CEO, Kokusan Tech Co. Ltd.
TERASAKI was the specialist and leader of TPS (Toyota Production System) in Hitachi group. He had experienced TPS application on the subsidiary of Hitachi in China, Korea, India and other JV’s. Beside the TPS education, he also plays a leading role of technical development and planning of a factory equipments.
