A pillar of Lean principles is the commitment to continuous improvement. The basis for Lean improvements has always been the experimental application of the Deming Cycle, i.e., PDCA. There is a great difference between how PDCA is applied in Japan versus in the US, and some differences within each country among the various companies that leverage the method. No company is more famous for its utility of PDCA than Toyota, the source of Lean. PDCA, as applied within Toyota’s Product Development System has been dubbed “LAMDA” by researcher Allen Ward. Beyond its service as a premier continuous improvement methodology, LAMDA is used to develop the meta-skill, the skill of skills development. LAMDA is used for continuous improvement (problem solving) but as importantly for workforce skill development. Attend and learn both sides of the LAMDA value proposition.
Bill Farmer is a Principal Consultant with F&A Consulting and an Adjunct Professor at Augsburg University in Minneapolis. He holds degrees in Electrical Engineering and Japanese from the University of Minnesota and did his graduate studies at the Media Lab at MIT. After MIT, Bill spent three years working as a research engineer at Sharp Corporation in Japan and grew familiar with "Japanese-style Management", based on the Deming Management System. Subsequent to his return stateside, Bill held executive leadership positions at three Twin Cities corporations, in Product Development and General Management. Over the last decade, Bill has been consulting on Lean Product Development, Agile, and related topics.
