Shigeo Shingo

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  Born in 1909 Shigeo Shingo would become one of the most influential figures in lean manufacturing.  After graduating from Yamanashi technical college Dr. Shingo went to work for the Taipei Railway Company.  Shortly after he was transferred to a manufacturing plant in Yokohama by the name of Amano Manufacturing.  Dr. Shingo immediately went to work improving production by 100%.  

  In about 1955 Dr. Shingo went to work for Toyota.  It was there that he developed the system we know today as SMED and Error Proofing.  The SMED System was document in the Book, A Revolution in Manufacturing: The SMED System and the Error Proofing System or ZQC System was documented in the book, Zero Quality Control: Source Inspection and the Poka Yoke System.  Legend has it that Dr. Shingo was able to reduce the set-up time of a 1,000 ton press from 4 hours to a mere 3 minutes.  All throughout Dr. Shingo's life he travelled the world giving talks and performing remarkable consulting projects.  Dr. Shingo has written more than 10 books and countless cited papers used in the manufacturing world.  After many years of hard work Utah State University created an award known today as the Shingo prize which is given for the remarkable performance of manufacturers. 

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