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INDUSTRY
- April 2002 by Dr. Arlie Hall A Man of Vision IN January, University of Kentucky President Lee Todd joined Dr. Thomas Lester, dean of the college of engineering, and other university and state leaders to present an honorary Ph.D. degree in engineering to Dr. Fujio Cho, president of Toyota Motor Manufacturing. Dr. Cho has been president of Toyota Motor Manufacturing since 1999 and was formerly president Toyota Motor Manufacturing, U. S. A., Georgetown, Kentucky from 1986 to 1996. The University conferred this degree in recognition of Dr. Cho’s long-term dedication to excellence, not only in manufacturing, but also to the University of Kentucky and the State of Kentucky. In accepting the degree, Dr. Cho stated, “We needed an educational partner to make the system more understandable to promote advanced manufacturing methods throughout the Commonwealth and the United States. We found that partner in UK’s College of Engineering.” Dr. Cho first visited the College of Engineering in 1988 through an invitation by Dr. Kozo Saito, professor of mechanical engineering. He then presented to the engineering faculty and students his expert knowledge of the Toyota Production System, now known worldwide as Lean Manufacturing. TPS is now recognized throughout the world as the best known system for eliminating waste within a manufacturing system, while at the same time building a high-quality, delivered-on-time, automobile. As the years passed, Dr. Cho made numerous presentations to engineering students on campus. Although Dr. Cho was not an engineer himself, engineering excellence became his primary interest while he was at Georgetown. In November 1993. Dr. Cho approached the University with the request that the College of Engineering study and develop principles in lean manufacturing. He also suggested that a curriculum of study should be developed to train engineers at the masters degree level in TPS. This resulted in his Toyota Fellows Program in the College of Engineering. Dr. Thomas Lester assigned the Toyota study responsibility to the director of the Center for Robotics and Manufacturing Systems, Dr. John Walker. Dr. Walker guided the research efforts through the mechanical engineering faculty; the extension engineering dimensions of the study (direct work with Kentucky manufacturers) was assigned to Mr. James Waldren, a senior extension engineer who reported directly to him. There was very limited knowledge of TPS within the UK Engineering College at the time Dr. Cho made his proposal. Cho recognized this limitation, so he invited faculty and Center staff personnel to work alongside his shop floor “team members” at Georgetown. I have had the wonderful privilege of helping actually structure UK’s Lean Manufacturing curriculum, thanks to the vision of Dr. Cho. Dr. Cho recognized
UK’s Lean curriculum in his closing remarks, “I am so impressed
by the great job they’ve (Dr. Lester and Dr. Kozo Saito) done of
developing the Lean Manufacturing program. They have built a curriculum
that has produced countless numbers of graduates who are now contributing
fully to the continuous improvement of manufacturing companies throughout
the Commonwealth of Kentucky, and even beyond….I believe it is
our duty and our privilege to share our knowledge with other companies,
in order to help elevate the level of excellence of the whole business
community and the quality of life of the entire population….I am
deeply grateful to the American auto industry for the lessons it taught
to the founders of Toyota.” Dr. Arlie Hall is an adjunct professor
for the Center for Robotics and Manufacturing at the University of Kentucky's
College of Engineering.
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