Week One:

From not walking in the unmarked bike lane, to learning the basic aspects of lean engineering, the first week I learned very much. After the first couple days, I began to settle into my new environment. We visited such companies as Kuka robotics, which is one of world leading robotics companies in the world. We also visited the historical Zeppelin shipyard. Then we went to the prestigious TUM (Munich University of Technology) for a day course that put hands-on aspect to the lean principles we learned in the classroom.

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Week Two:

After the second week I began to find my way around Munich with the little German I knew. I found some good restaurants as well as the shops that weren’t outrageously expensive from tourism. In the classroom we made strides in lean engineering as well. We began to understand the lean insights from Dr. Blache. One thing we learned is how to introduce lean to a corporation. There is a major “people side” of the implementation that was all new to me. You have to change the culture to be successful. Then we visited BMW which we ranked as the leanest of all the factories we toured.

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Week Three:

The final week came too fast. This trip seemed too short and I wish I could’ve stayed longer. After a couple more days of class we learned that lean isn’t just something you implement and you’re done. You have to install continuous improvement and that is what Toyota Kata is all about. We visited the final factories of IAGB and the Erdinger wheat processing plant. Which compared low level production of IAGB satellites to the high production of Erdinger. In summation, this trip was an experience of a life time and recommend to anyone who has the opportunity.