Professor Christoph Roser.

Christoph Roser är den tyske, sympatiske professorn som går igång med ett barns nyfikenhet på allt som har med produktion att göra. I år kommer han med till Lean Forum-konferensen i Göteborg. Men vad ska ha prata om?

Hello Christoph! You visited almost 50 Japanese factories in just 5 months last winter, including at least one from every major car maker in Japan. Why?
– I love observing people and their work, especially if they know what they are doing. For this, Japan is wonderful, as they have an extremely high work ethics, and strive for perfection. Hence being able to visit almost 50 different factories in Japan was very exciting and interesting. While from the European point of view, we often take Toyota as an example for all of Japan, there are indeed very different approaches and work styles.

I have understood that you visited all the seven Japanese car manufacturers. What surprised you the most?
– While (unsurprisingly) Toyota was one of the most efficient plants, I was surprised that Nissan was in some plants even better than Toyota. I also did not expect Mazda to be on the third place. Also, almost any car maker had a few ingenious and nice solutions, many of which were adapted by Toyota afterwards.

At the Lean Forum conference, you will lead a one and a half hour session, where we can dive deep into the learnings from your automotive tour. What perspectives will be the focus of the session?
– I want to show you the variety in Japanese automotive manufacturing, as well as the overall trend and commonalities among these companies. My hope is that this will give you inspiration for your own production to improve.