Lean pioneer Art Byrne

I had the pleasure to work under Art Byrne for 16 years as the Lead Kaizen person at Esselte EMEA, Esselte was one of the largest office product supplier in Europe and was owned by JW Childs and Art Byrne was the director of the board of Esselte.

Lean pioneer Art Byrne the author of The Lean Turnaround and The Lean Turnaround Action Guide, With 30 years of accumulated experience, Art is one of the rare few people who can speak with authority about the pitfalls of financial measurement systems, the importance of respect for people and the need for learning Lean not in a classroom–but by testing out these ideas in a hands-on approach at the gemba KAIZEN.

While many companies have attempted to become Lean, few have captured the full promise of this better way of business. Art and James took Esselte thru a Lean Turnaround in there 12 factories improving the inventory turns from 3 turns to over 20 turns and in the process freeing up over $100 million dollars of inventory. The Lean monthly reports described in the book was made by James Booth, you can read about Jim Boot the lead Kaizen person in the Action Guide and on page 220 you can see that this Jim Booth.