Durward Sobek, an engineering professor at Montana State University and a lean-focused author, recently became a two-time winner of the Shingo Prize, earning the institute’s Research and Professional Publication award for the book Understanding A3 Thinking, which he co-wrote with the Lean Enterprise Institute’s Art Smalley. More than a decade ago, Sobek won his first Shingo prize as a graduate student researching lean manufacturing at Michigan State University.
The winning tome is an ode to A3 thinking, a lean technique born of the Toyota Production System. According to a whitepaper by Sobek and Cindy Jimmerson of the Community Medical Center in Missoula, MT, an A3 report “is a tool that Toyota Motor Corporation uses to propose solutions to problems, give status reports on ongoing projects, and report results of information-gathering activity.” Like many lean principles, the A3 philosophy has breached Toyota’s four walls to become part of the larger manufacturing and business community.
An Amazon.com description of Sobek’s and Smalley’s book says, “The authors show that the process leading to the development and management of A3 reports is at least as important as the reports themselves, because of the deep learning and professional development that occurs in the process.”
For more on this year’s winners of the Shingo prize, visit the organization’s site.