“Given the on-going coronavirus crisis, the EU-Japan Centre for Industrial Cooperation will organise another interactive and real-time online version of its World Class Manufacturing training course from 15 to 19 November 2021. This online training course is free of charge.”

• Discover Japan’s approach to World-Class Manufacturing
• Learn how Japanese firms achieve superior production standards
• Focus on the latest trends by visiting the top manufacturing plants in Japan
• Visit the real “GEMBA” (i.e. production site in Japan)
• Meet senior Japanese industry leaders

Since the first edition in 1992, more than 700 participants from across all EU Member states have participated in this practical training course.

The 5-day World Class Manufacturing training mission provides an in-depth analysis of Japanese manufacturing methodology and is aimed exclusively at EU managers with knowledge of WCM and an engineering background. It assists the participants to acquire a better understanding of TQC (Total Quality Control), TQM (Total Quality Management), TPM (Total Productive Maintenance), JIT (Just In Time), TIE (Total Industrial Engineering) practices and the current KAIZEN manufacturing methods (continuous improvement).

The training course consists of lectures, workshops and visits to some of the world’s most advanced Japanese factories in order to understand the real “Gemba” (production site), talk directly with their production managers and observe the effective implementation of manufacturing methods.

This course will give its participants a detailed understanding of current Japanese approaches that they can adapt to help their companies lean journeys.

To complete your application please use Google Chrome or Firefox. 

PARTICIPANT PROFILE

Ideal participants have an important strategic role in shaping the company’s best practice strategy or can influence the company’s management of quality control / best practice / production systems but as a full-time worker (e.g. Director, Manager, Operation & Logistics, Plant Manager, Quality Manager or Managing Director etc).

The sector of activity is unimportant however applicants from consulting sector will have a lower priority in the selection.

ELIGIBILITY

The candidate must:

• be a citizen of an EU Member State or of a COSME partnering country;
• work for a company that is > 50% EU or COSME partnering country owned;
• work for a company that is an EU or COSME partnering country juridical person;
• be supported by their employer;
• be able to participate in the entire programme;
• have a good command of English;
• be an employee/team leader involved in engineering methods or production/service strategy or production control or with experience in operations management
• have knowledge and practice of production methods of excellence.

SELECTION

The main criteria for selection are:

• the professional & educational background of the candidate;
• the strategy of the participant’s company regarding WCM implementation.

In order to ensure a high degree of personal attention, the number of participants in each programme is limited.

PROGRAMME DESIGN & CONTENT

Study block I: lectures, seminars & panel discussions, presented by experts from Japanese industry covering subjects such as:

– Lead-Time Reduction through Streamlined Flows of Information and Products
– Policy Deployment, HR Management and Best Practice for Staff Motivation
– Continuous Improvement of Customer Service Supported by WCM
– Lean Thinking and WCM Approach in Japan
– TQC, TQM, TPM, JIT and TIE
– Attractive Quality Creation
– Levelled Production System
– Variable-Product Variable
-Quantity Production to meet Demand Fluctuation
– Synchronized Production System (from order to delivery)
– Flexible Manufacturing Implemented by QCD
– Improvement of Overall Manufacturing Capability.

Study block II: visits to companies – preparation for company visits and post-visit reviews.

The sectors of activity of the companies to be visited include, among others:
– Chemical products and plastics
– Machinery
– Steel products
– Automobile industry

The EU-Japan Centre’s lean advisor is Prof. Richard Keegan, adjunct professor at Trinity Business School, Trinity College, Dublin. Richard is a specialist in the fields of World Class Business and Benchmarking and has focused on adapting these concepts for SMEs, working closely with a large number of SMEs helping them to implement improvement actions. An author of several books on the topics and previously Manager of the Competitiveness Department of Enterprise Ireland, he led the DG Enterprise & Industry Benchmarking Initiative and the European Benchmarking Forum and Network for the European Commission.

Deposit (applicable to SMEs) / Guarantee (applicable to non-SMEs)

The Centre will not retain any deposit/contribution for this year online training course.

Grant for SME(*) 

The grant is an amount of money (600€) offered by the Centre to SME participants only to support their travel charges. Because this year’s WCM training programme is online the grant payment is not applicable.

(*): SMEs (small and medium-sized enterprises) are companies meeting the standard European Commission criteria for an SME which have applied successfully for a scholarship. Other companies are large companies or SMEs that fail to apply successfully for a scholarship.

Application Form