About Toyota Way Academy
JEFFREY K. LIKER
Dr. 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 articles and books have won seven 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
James Franz has over 22 years of manufacturing experience and learned lean as a Toyota Production Engineer in Japan. He started 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. His work has taken him to various companies including Bosch, the U.S. Air Force, Exxon Mobil, AMCOR, Android Industries, Benteler Automotive, Case New Holland, Dakkota, Fisher Coachworkds, Grand Rapids Chair, Hertz, JLG, MENLO Logistics, Rio Tinto, SAF Holland, Continental VDO, and WABCO. He has also taught for the University of Micihgan’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.
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