Sensei Hyodo, whose career at Toyota began at a young age, rose through the ranks to oversee the Toyota HiAce factory as a factory manager and director. His profound expertise in the Toyota Production System (TPS) equips him to effectively mentor corporate leaders in fostering environments where continuous improvement thrives.
Throughout his career, Mr. Hyodo’s approach to challenges and leadership was shaped by his hands-on experiences during the nascent stages of TPS’s implementation at Toyota. He learned to navigate his roles without the formal TPS training that later became standard, cultivating a keen ability to observe, analyze, and solve problems directly at their source.
His leadership tenure at the TPS Promotion Team further solidified his commitment to the principles of Lean Manufacturing. Hyodo dedicated himself to promoting standard work and systematic problem-solving across the organization, demonstrating the critical importance of these practices in achieving operational excellence.
Hyodo advocates for leaders to engage deeply with their work environments, emphasizing that true improvement requires a fundamental grasp of operations combined with the agility to enact swift, informed decisions. His guidance is invaluable for organizations striving to instill a robust culture of continuous improvement, ensuring that this mindset permeates every level of the company.
★ Top Instructor
David Fitzpatrick
David Fitzpatrick is the Co-Founder of Zenkai Improvement Partners, a lean management consulting firm that delivers corporate trainings, seminars and experience-based study tours. Since leaving his position as a Senior Consultant at one of the region’s top manufacturing consultancies in 2020, David has been offering remote and in-person consulting services to clients from his base in western Japan.
A passionate practitioner of all things TPS and kaizen related, he welcomes the challenge of helping learning organizations in their pursuit of operational optimization and the development of people-centric cultures.