Shingo, Shigeo (1909 – 1990)
An engineer and consultant whose books and teaching made key contributions to the dissemination of the Toyota Production System. Shingo taught industrial engineering methods aimed at plant supervisors and engineers at Toyota from roughly 1955 to 1980. Shingo’s teaching contributed to the formulation of internal kaizen training at Toyota and other companies as well. He also made key contributions to setup reduction, coining the phrase single minute exchange of die (SMED) and developing steps to analyze setup work, especially the distinction between internal and external work.
The Shingo Prize for Excellence in Manufacturing was established in 1988 by the College of Business at Utah State University, to promote awareness of lean manufacturing concepts and recognizing private and public sector facilities in the United States, Canada, and Mexico that achieve high levels of implementation.