Who knew Honda made Tofu?

When people think of Lean they often think of the tools associated with it: 5S, kanban, error proofing, visual controls, etc. But the tools alone are not what lean is. Lean is basically finding creative solutions to management problems (or engineering problems).

John at Curious Cat Management has a great example of creative problem solving from honda:
"Of all the bizarre subsidiaries that big companies can find themselves with, Harmony Agricultural Products, founded and owned by Honda Motor, is one of the strangest. This small company near Marysville, Ohio produces soybeans for tofu. Soybeans? Honda couldn't brook the sight of the shipping containers that brought parts from Japan to its nearby auto factories returning empty. So Harmony now ships 33,000 pounds of soybeans to Japan." - Forbes

That's just elegant. In addition Honda has never suffered layoffs or an unprofitable year. Hmmm.

Photo- Jwinfred

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