Lean Blog Interviews - Healthcare, Manufacturing, Business, and Leadership
Business:Management
David Meier, A Toyota Guy on Making Bourbon with a Continuous Improvement Flavor
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Back on the podcast for the sixth time is my friend David Meier, a Lean / TPS consultant who is a former Toyota leader at their plant in Georgetown, Kentucky. As we mentioned in our April episode (#304), he's gotten into what's, perhaps, the most Kentucky of industries… distilling bourbon (and more) at Glenn's Creek Distillery.
Update — His “OCD #5” was named “US Micro Whisky of the Year” in the 2023 edition of the Jim Murray Whiskey Bible. Congrats, Dave!!!
In this episode, there's a lot of bourbon talk, with some Lean concepts thrown in. If you share our interest in Lean and whiskey, then this might be your most favorite episode ever. Of course, if you don't have any interest in bourbon, you might well skip this one.
Here is an article from IISE magazine about David's work:
Helping the whiskey flow, Toyota styleAs David will talk about in the podcast:
“Meier started work at Toyota in the 1980s and later became a traveling consultant. During his travels, he began thinking about establishing his own manufacturing-centered business closer to home. After researching his options, he came upon the original Old Crow Distillery that had been shut down since 1985. The 16-acre property had not been maintained since it closed, and Meier purchased the place in 2014.”
I'll visit David and his distillery next week, so I'm sure I'll have more stories and photos.
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