OREANDA-NEWS. April 6, 2011. KAMAZ has opened the International Lean Conference “Partnership for Success” for suppliers and enterprises of its commodity distribution and service network.

This is the fourth Lean Forum which KAMAZ organizes jointly with the Chamber of Commerce of the city of Naberezhnye Chelny and Zakamye Region with the assistance of the Ministry of Industry and Trade of the Republic of Tatarstan.

According to Sergey Kogogin, Director General of OJSC KAMAZ, who spoke at the opening ceremony with a welcoming address, business must be efficient. A continuous effort aimed to increase effectiveness is the main secret of all successful companies, with Kamaz not being an exception. It seems that you can achieve this object fulfilling simple tasks: reducing losses, improving processes, organizing advanced trainings for employees, and improving the quality of manufactured products. “It is the instruments and methods of Lean Manufacturing that enable to implement them comprehensively,” noted Director General of KAMAZ. “After many years of daily work in this area, they have become the basis of an integral strategy, ideology, philosophy and practice of the enterprise – the Production System KAMAZ.

The conferees will hear many interesting speeches. Christoph Siegel, Head of TOS, Daimler (Germany); Gert Haar-Jorgensen, Managing Director for Lean Coaching Ltd. (UK); and Peter Willats, a founder of the Kaizen Institute in Europe (Germany), will share their experiences in implementing lean manufacturing processes. Donal Finn, a representative of Lean Coaching Ltd. (UK), will make a presentation of Toyota’s suppliers’ experience which will be one of important speeches.

Tomorrow, April 6, will be the second day of the conference. The participants will attend workshops which will be organized at the forge plant of KAMAZ-Metallurgy OJSC, KAMAZ-Diesel Inc., and the Executive Directorate of OJSC KAMAZ.