ThoughtWorks' Quarterly Technology Briefings

Big in Japan: Lean Thinking Techniques for IT Professionals

In the 1980's Japanese industry stunned the world with their ability to produce high quality products at incredibly low costs, triggering a quality revolution in The West. By the 1990's Toyota were developing three new vehicles in the time it took the big three US manufacturers to develop one. In 1991 MIT's Auto Industry Programme and the best-seller that came out of it 'The Machine that Changed the World' revealed why: Lean Thinking.

This briefing will explore the processes, tools and philosophies applied by Toyota Corporation to become one of the most successful companies in the history of the world and it's 7th largest.

Learn how Lean techniques were used by two of Australia's largest websites to reduce product delivery cycles from over 12 months to every 4-6 weeks, by a large international bank to reduce the time taken to capture project requirements from over 3 months to 2 weeks and by an international financial services company to halve the cost of a 12 month program of work.

Our speaker

Richard Durnall spent his formative years working for Ford Motor Company in their Manufacturing and Supply Chain Systems division, working closely with a number of Lean experts to do battle with the mighty Toyota Corporation (he has the scars to prove it). Following 12 years in the IT industry for major corporations, he joined ThoughtWorks as a Principal Consultant and spends his time working with our global clients to apply and coach Lean principles to improve the software development process.

Event Information

Manchester
6pm, Wednesday 2nd July, IOD Hub, Peter House, Oxford Street, Manchester, M1
Register here

London
6pm, Thursday 3rd July, Grange City Hotel, London, Tower Hill, EC3
Register here

Registration

If you are interested in attending this briefing, simply register online through the links above.
If you are unable to register here, please email Katy White specifying which event you would like to attend

Be sure to tell us who you are, where you are and what you do, as well as leaving a number so we can call you if we need to.

You can always call us on +44 20 7497 4500

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