Turkish institute learning lean agriculture in Israel
NEWS - Our institutes in Turkey and Israel have collaborated closely for years. A few weeks ago, the President of Lean Institute Turkey flew to Tel Aviv to learn about Israeli agriculture.
Words: Yalcin Ipbuken, President, Lean Institute Turkey
At the end of 2014, I had the opportunity to visit Israel for a very productive five-day study trip to better understand the Israeli agricultural sector.
Boaz Tamir (President of Israel Lean Enterprise) and I visited three kibbutzes, a cooperative of village farmers, milk producers, wine makers, olive oil producers, fish farmers, and then the Central Agricultural Cooperative Union. We also had a chance to meet with a number of regulating boards, as well as two well-known agro-companies, Netafim and Plasson.
Meeting so many capable and inspiring people was the highlight of my trip, for which I need to thank Boaz and his friend Issak Lidor (an expert in farming and agriculture, in which he has worked his entire life, up to point when he held a senior management position at the Ministry of Agriculture), who also contributed to making my time in Israel memorable.
Israel is known internationally as a pioneering and extremely successful country when it comes to farming, dairy farming and agriculture. Because water is in short supply there, Israel has invested heavily in research and developed technological innovations to enable efficient ways to irrigate and grow crops. It also produces 12,000 liters of milk per cow annually, a world record.
I’ve been studying Israeli agriculture for a long time, developing a keen interest in how this sector deals with topics like leadership and people engagement and development (that are close to a lean person’s heart).
Within Israeli society, agriculture is the most creative and innovative industry, together with high-tech start-ups. It is a value-creating community that has shown great resilience (considering its long history and the dramatic changes that Israel’s society and economy have endured) and made great progress in the adoption of lean thinking.
The Israeli agricultural sector must be studied in depth, and represents a model for the rest of the world.
Read more
NOTES FROM THE GEMBA – With a strong focus on quality and on solving problems once and for all, Paris Ouest Construction has managed to weather the storm of the recession, the author finds out during a gemba walk.
FEATURE – In the second article in our series with Theodo, the CTO tells us about an experiment that showed how problem solving is easier when the job is clearly defined.
WOMACK'S YOKOTEN - Senior leadership must learn to understand the work if they are to move away from the mindless metrics that lead managers to "game" numbers or to shift responsibility on to other departments.
INTERVIEW – At the recent UK Lean Summit, we met the Head of Student Services of an English high school. We asked her about the interesting work the school is doing to improve the delivery of education to students with special needs using lean thinking.