Those on the journey...
Dr. JEFFREY K. LIKER - President
Jeffrey K. Liker is Professor of Industrial and Operations Engineering at the University of Michigan and president of The Toyota Way Academy. Dr. Liker has authored or co-authored 75 articles and book chapters and nine books. He is author of the international best-seller, The Toyota Way: 14 Management Principles from the World’s Greatest Manufacturer, McGraw Hill, 2004 which speaks to the underlying philosophy and principles that drive Toyota’s quality and efficiency-obsessed culture. The companion (with David Meier) Toyota Way Fieldbook, Mcgraw Hill, 2005 details how companies can learn from the Toyota Way principles. His book with Jim Morgan, The Toyota Product Development System ,Productivity Press, 2006, is the first that details the product development side of Toyota. He is doing a series of books focused on each of the 4Ps. The first book with David Meier is Toyota Talent: Developing exceptional people the Toyota Way (May, 2007) followed by Toyota Culture: The Heart and Soul of the Toyota Way (January, 2008). His most recent Shingo Prize for Research Excellence is for Toyota Under Fire, which provides the complete story about the Toyota recalls, which may surprise you. His articles and books have won 9 Shingo Prizes for Research Excellence and The Toyota Way also won the 2005 Institute of Industrial Engineers Book of the Year Award and 2007 Sloan Industry Studies Book of the Year. He continues to study and write books about Toyota and practice as a keynote speaker and consultant. Recent clients include Hertz, Caterpillar, AMD, Android, Areva, Rio Tinto Mining, Tenneco Automotive, Jacksonville Naval Air Depot, US Air Force Material Command, Johnson Controls, Harley Davidson, Eaton, and Fujitsu Technical Services
James K. Franz - Vice President - Global Operations
James Franz has over 24 years of manufacturing experience and learned lean as a Toyota Production Engineer in Japan. He began his journey at the Motomachi plant and then moved to NUMMI and then finally worked in Georgetown, Kentucky. After leaving Toyota, he then went to Ford to apply his lean knowledge beginning in production engineering. He was sent to Ford of Australia for 3 years and led their Stamping, Assembly, Casting, and Powertrain facilities to global leadership in lean for Ford. During this time he also worked with Tier 1 and Tier 2 supplier plants in their transformation efforts. Upon his repatriation he then became a lean advisor in Powertrain for global alignment of lean practices. He left Ford to work with Dr. Jeffrey Liker as a Senior Lean Consultant and is now a partner with Dr. Liker in the Toyota Way Academy. His work has taken him around the globe to a multitude of companies including Bosch, Applied Materials, the U.S. Air Force, Exxon Mobil, AMCOR, Android Industries, Benteler Automotive, Case New Holland, Caterpillar, Dakkota, Fisher Coachworks, Grand Rapids Chair, Hertz, JLG, MENLO Logistics, Rio Tinto, SAF Holland, Continental VDO, Visteon, and WABCO. He also teaches for the University of Michigan’s Center for Professional Development’s Lean Certification course. He received his Bachelor of Science degree in Manufacturing Systems Engineering from General Motors Institute, and completed his Master of Science degree in Engineering Management at the University of Michigan. He has collaborated as co-author with Jeffrey K. Liker on the latest of the Toyota Way books: The Toyota Way to Continuous Improvement - Linking Strategy and Operational Excellence to Achieve Superior Performance.
Arturo Medellin - Vice President - Latin America
Arturo is an Industrial Engineer from San Luis Potosi, Mexico University, with over 20 years experience in manufacturing. He started as a Manufacturing Engineer with Cummins Engine. He subsequently moved to Materials, starting as a Materials Planner, Warehouse Supervisor, Logistics and Traffic Supervisor, and finally as Materials Manager. He then moved to the automotive industry with Delco Remy, where he worked as a Materials Manager, Operations Manager, Sales and Projects, Materials Director and Plant Manager at the Remy Fabrication Plant. As Operations Manager, Arturo led the Lean transformation that awarded the plant Best Plant in the Group worldwide for 3 consecutive years. After he left Remy to become a consultant, he worked with Zimmer Caribe in Puerto Rico, Dana, Sivalco and TBC in Mexico and Jasper Engines in the US. He also worked for Dr. Jeff Liker on transformations with Benteler Mexico, FG Wilson in Northern Ireland, Perkins Engines in England and Caterpillar in the US and Mexico, and led a Supplier’s Development Program for CAT India in Chennai, with suppliers in Bangalore (Wipro), Bhavnagar (SteelCast) and Calcutta (UT Cylinders). He also teaches Graduate Courses in Lean for San Luis Potosi University, as well as Tecnologico de Monterrey, campus SLP. He is fluent in both English and Spanish.