Akira Kōdate
Akira Kōdate (高達秋良、こうだて・あきら) was born in Kanagawa District, Japan on 6 October 1925. He is an engineer and a Japanese business manager, considered one of the greatest international experts in R&D and production management, as well as a master of lean thinking-related methodologies. Since 1953, he has been working as a consultant with the Japan Management Association (JMA) and JMA Consultants Inc, where he works as a principal consultant and technical advisor. Biography Kōdate graduated in mechanical engineering from the University of Ibaragi in 1948, when postwar Japan was still recovering from World War II During university, he started working as a lathe turner operator, which gave him a solid foundation for his future endeavors. After being in charge of production control for a while, Kōdate became a design engineer for a manufacturing company producing sawing machines and trying to emerge from the industrial void of the period. Kōdate was willing to understand how to provide a greater contribution to the recovery of Japan and improve efficiency among its workers with the limited resources available (both material and human). He sought contacts and reference literature that could fulfill his objectives and open the minds of people to the idea that