Masaaki Imai

Management Guru, Kaizen Pioneer, Founder of Kaizen InstitutexMasaaki Imai is the Founder of Kaizen Institute which was established in Switzerland in 1985 to help companies implement the practice of kaizen and the various systems and tools known today as Lean Management. Today Kaizen Institute Consulting Group (KICG) is the leading global operational excellence consultancy with over 400 professionals located in offices across 30 countries serving clients in 25 languages.Over the last three decades Mr. Imai has authored books and articles, held lectures on kaizen, quality, leadership, Lean and other related management subjects, has consulted with global companies, introduced kaizen as a commonsense continuous improvement approach on every inhabited continent.Mr. Imai’s contribution has been one of integrating various kaizen management practices, such as Just-in-time, TQM, and TPM, into the cultural environments of client companies. He was also the first to organize study missions to Japan to study kaizen and Lean methods, a service that Kaizen Institute continues today, having led more than 200 groups and 4,000 people.Mr. Imai speaks not only to leadership issues but also to frontline issues at the gemba or “the real place where value is added”. He understands the steps required to make a company world-class and moving it from a result-oriented to process-oriented company.