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• Ten Lessons for World Class
• Global Production System

 

John Black

John Black is one of the nation’s leading authorities on Lean Operations and his consulting team is currently working with healthcare and manufacturing organizations throughout the world.

John has broad experience helping healthcare organizations implement Lean Operations, based on the Toyota Production System. Beginning with Virginia Mason Medical Center in Seattle, WA in 2001, Black is now bringing the benefits of Lean Operations to Park Nicollet Health Systems in St. Louis Park, MN and Premera Blue Shield of Lynwood, WA. Black has led Virginia Mason and Park Nicollet on trips to Japan to gain hands-on knowledge of Lean Operations. In the mid-90’s, while an executive at Boeing he consulted to Peace Health in Eugene, Oregon in starting Lean to include taking the top team to Japan led by their CEO in October 1996.

Black was a pioneer of Lean Operations at The Boeing Company. He was the first to introduce the ideas of quality gurus Deming and Juran to the company and he went on to gain management's commitment to the Toyota Production System (TPS). Black was responsible for training thousands of Boeing employees in TPS, helped found the company's two quality centers and led a number of executive study trips to Japan – many of them for training with the Shingijutsu Company, the worlds leading consultants on Just-In-Time manufacturing. In 1980 Black was instrumental in persuading Boeing top management to commit to Lean Operations in the production of the Boeing 757 airliner. His ideas also paved the way for the Boeing 737 moving assembly line – the world's first for a jet aircraft.

Black is the author of A World Class Production System.