You have until 16 October to apply for a place on December’s Lean in Europe visit to RATIONAL in Landsberg am Lech, Germany.

RATIONAL was Germany’s ‘Factory of the Year’ in 2022 and is the world-leader for multifunctional appliances used in professional kitchens to produce 140m meals a day. It has more than 600 patents in operation or in application. The visit will take place on 7 & 8 December and include a Gemba tour of 3 plants; presentations on RATIONAL’s story, customer focus, Lean processes and organisation; and its apprenticeship process; lean discussions; a cooking demonstration to see the product in action and a debriefing. There are 30 places available for this visit which will be led by Prof. Richard Keegan (Adjunct Professor of Lean Operational Excellence, Trinity Business School).

Priority will be given to applicants with a clear role in shaping their company's lean strategy / process management activities who explain why their company would like them to take part in this visit and who have not attended previous Lean in Europe visits. Former participants may wish to encourage a colleague who has not been on a previous visit to do so, so that they get the chance to benefit from the Lean in Europe activity. Applications are welcome from companies located in an EU27 member-state or in an EU Single Market Programme country.

The Lean in Europe activity will end in March. After the RATIONAL visit, just two more will be organised, including to Kostwein Maschinenbau GmbH. To be sent details of the Kostwein visit and of the final visit when they are available, please contact lean(at)eu-japan.eu.