Thought Leader Perspective: The System Level View

Click here for Michael Kennedy's bio

Over the past decade, companies have been applying various tools and techniques under the lean umbrella for improving product development productivity. While many of these new practices have resulted in recognized improvements, few if any have resulted in the three to four times potential productivity gain. Why? The answer is that the Toyota product development is a system, not a collection of tools and practices. You must first understand the system before you attempt to implement the tools. Furthermore, in doing so, you might find that the Toyota tools will not directly apply to your culture. In this session, Mr. Kennedy will define a high level system model that explains why Toyota product development is so powerful and why their practices are so different from traditional product development. The underlying premise is that you do not want to be Toyota, you want to be as good as or better than they are in product development performance. Understanding their system is the start.