Norman Bodek

Norman Bodek was a teacher, consultant, author and publisher who published over 100 Japanese management books in English, including the works of Taiichi Ohno and Dr. Shigeo Shingo. He taught a course on "The Best of Japanese Management Practices" at Portland State University. Bodek created the Shingo Prize with Dr. Vern Beuhler at Utah State University. He was elected to Industry Week's Manufacturing Hall of Fame and founded Productivity Press. He was also the President of PCS Press. He died on December 9, 2020, at the age of 88.

In 1980, he attended an Industry Week conference in New York, where Joji Arai, a manager with Japan Productivity Center, spoke about his role in bringing Japanese businesspeople to the US to study American industry. Bodek asked Arai if he could bring Americans to Japan to study Japanese management. Arai agreed and set up Bodek's first study mission to Japan.

Productivity Press discovered Shigeo Shingo in 1981 and published some of its first books in 1983 and 1985.

Later work and visits to Japan Bodek's fascination with manufacturing led him to Japan and a lifelong exploration of the methods behind Japanese quality and productivity. Mr. Taiichi Ohno, Quality Control Circles, 5S, and the Visual Factory Total Productive Maintenance, Value Stream Mapping, Kaizen and Kaizen Blitz, Cell Design, Poka-Yoke, Andon, Hoshin Kanri, and Kanban. which, in turn, is the basis for what came to be called Lean Manufacturing in America. For example, a book on Lean Accounting can be seen as Westerner's guide to creating a Toyota-like accounting system.

In the 1980s Bodek ran conferences and seminars, and brought Japanese authors to America. He initiated a number of publishing-partnerships that would span several years. For instance, under Bodek's leadership Productivity Press first published Shingo in 1985 There were more titles by Hirano from Productivity in the 1990s, and PCS in 2006.

Bodek said his most important discovery was how Japanese companies brought out the potential in their workers.

Harada Method: the human side to Lean The Harada Method is designed to teach people how to be great leaders, coaches, and to build a winning team.

On his 75th trip to Japan, Bodek met Mr Takashi Harada, who Bodek believed has the ultimate recipe for competing against low-cost labor in China and India. By 2011 the Harada Method had become recognized as one of the most systematic ways to enhance employee development. Harada has been adopted by Kirin Brewery, Uniqlo (retail clothing), Nomura Securities (financial services), The Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ, and Chugai Pharmaceuticals. His books including How to do Kaizen were among the readings for the 'ISQA 410' course in logistics, for Spring 2012.

Recognition In 2005, Bodek won the Books and Monographs category of the Shingo Prize for Excellence in Manufacturing, a prize that awards companies worldwide that "achieve world-class operational excellence status", for his book, Kaikaku, The Power and Magic of Lean.

In 2010, Bodek was inducted into Industry Week's Manufacturing Hall of Fame. The award recognized him as one of a team of "industrial superstars whose collective careers have had an immeasurable impact and influence on U.S. manufacturing."

Bodek was inducted into the Association for Manufacturing Excellence Hall of Fame in 2019. The AME Hall of Fame recognizes industry thought leaders and influencers who support the values, principles and practices found within leading enterprise excellence organizations.

Norman recently wrote a new book, A Miraculous Life, where he shares what he learned throughout his life from numerous masters in management and in the spiritual world. He hopes that reading his miracles will encourage others to recognize the marvelous opportunities that they have to live wonderfully well and also to serve others.