Michael Taen (1957)
Michael Taen started his career as an industrial engineer at Corus in IJmuiden, the Dutch steel and aluminium mills. In 1994 Michael took up the challenge to set up a new production plant for airbags. At that time he was introduced to the principles of lean manufacturing. He was immediately inspired by the power, clarity and effectiveness of the lean strategy, and applied it over and over again to design, start up and optimize production processes: first in the automotive industry and since 1998 as a consultant in many other sectors as well.
Michael inspires management and shop floor level to “lean” their processes at all levels within the organization. The actual realization of the lean transformation is always his drive. He has developed several tools and adapted others to support this. His experience ranges from companies such as DHL, Cookson, Wegener, Stork Fokker, Ponpower, Scania, Besi, Brink, Unica and Hunter Douglas.
“Lean is farmers' wisdom, as we say in the Netherlands. It is real, down-to-earth. It is the sweat and hard work of the physical workplace. It is about the flow of materials on the shop floor. And it is not about politics, games and virtual worlds. Yet, all that isn’t easy, it requires a lot of endurance, just as the work on the farm”