ReleaseWire

Lean Thinking to Impact Europe in New Ways Through Unique Partnership

2015 TWI Summit - Europe

Posted: Monday, December 22, 2014 at 10:29 AM CST

Indianapolis, IN -- (ReleaseWire) -- 12/22/2014 --effektivitet.dk, business through people, and Lean Frontiers have entered into a partnership to bring lean-related Summits and workshops to European business, industry and healthcare. Each organization independently provides products and services in Denmark, throughout Europe, and in North America. Lean, as taught by these organizations, is based on the Toyota Production System which has been widely adopted around the world in manufacturing, healthcare, service, banking, and government organizations, among others.

President and Founder of Lean Frontiers, Jim Huntzinger, explained the partnership, "We were each drawn to each other for a variety of reasons. effektivitet.dk is a non-profit association that since 1948 has brought knowledge on business productivity to their members, and is also the Danish associate for APICS' international supply chain certifications. Business Through People has rapidly developed an impressive reputation addressing critical people-centric solutions often missed in lean organizations. The company is associated with the TWI Institute, a non-profit organization whose mission is to certify TWI Master Trainers around the world. And Lean Frontiers has developed targeted lean-related events designed to engage the entire enterprise in a system of lean thinking. Together, we will offer companies throughout Europe some of the most advanced thinking in continuous improvement, by the world's most recognized leaders, and company practitioners blazing new ground."

The new trio's first event will bring world-renowned author, lean coach, keynote speaker, and former Toyota Manager, David Meier to Copenhagen. Meier is co-author of The Toyota Way Fieldbook and Toyota Talent, together with Dr. Jeffrey Liker, and David will lead a Master Class titled, "Creating a Culture of Problem Solving."

Christian Obbekær Hansen, long-time effektivitet.dk representative, describes their vision, "While the Meier Master Class may be hosted in Denmark, this partnership is totally in line with our mission to seek and spread new knowledge from international experts and company visits to our members. The partnership will enable us to offer spectacular lean- related events to future generations of lean leaders".

The trio launches the European TWI Summit 17-18 Nov 2015 in Malmo, Sweden. TWI, which stands for "Training Within Industry," has its fingerprints on not only lean, but on all three of our organizations. TWI provides core skills to frontline supervisors in any industry. The training methodology provides key skills for anyone who manages people: Job Instruction provides skills in teaching jobs to frontline workers, Job Methods provides skills in improving job processes, and Job Relations provides skills in handling people issues before they become barriers to work.

John Vellema, founder and president of Business Through People added, "Together with effektivitet.dk we have run TWI Conferences in Denmark for the past two years, gathering many of the world's leading TWI trainers and practitioners. Lean Frontiers has a well-established following in its annual TWI Summit, held each year in North America. By coordinating the efforts of all three partners, we are pleased to now offer the TWI Summit in both North America and Europe. We will bring our unique expertise of the European business climate to TWI Summit Europe and hope to further develop the TWI community that formed in our earlier TWI Conference."

Go to http://www.twisummit.eu

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