Lean Leadership Learning Tour

An executive experience at three companies turning operations into competitive advantage. 

Toyota just committed $1 billion to its Kentucky and Indiana plants, part of $10 billion over five years. GE Appliances is investing $6.5 billion to become America’s No. 1 appliance company. A transformation sustained across three CEOs and two owners. Summit Polymers has applied TPS for over 30 years across 14 global facilities, investing $37.5 million to expand in Kentucky and earning back-to-back GM Supplier of the Year. Walk their floors. Meet their leaders. See what makes it work.

Why Attend

Executives invest billions in transformation efforts. Yet most fall short. The companies that succeed do so because leaders embed lean as both a management system and business strategy.

On this tour, you will:

• Walk Toyota’s largest plant in the world, the facility that just received $800M for its next battery electric vehicle, guided by Toyota’s own TPS coaches. 
• Experience GE Appliances’ “leanshoring” strategy, the model LEI founder Jim Womack calls one of the most significant manufacturing shifts in decades, coached by the LEI team that helped build their management system. 
• See how Summit Polymers embedded TPS across 14 global facilities, investing $37.5 million to expand in Kentucky, adding 218 jobs, and earning back-to-back GM Supplier of the Year (2023, 2024).
• Connect with C-suite and senior leaders across industries tackling supply chain configuration, workforce development, and operational performance. 

This is more than a tour. It’s a leadership development experience designed to equip you with the mindset and practices to accelerate change in your enterprise.

Prepare for the Tour

Go deeper on the companies and management systems you’ll experience in Kentucky.

• Leanshoring: Winning with Customers by Bringing the Business Closer
  LEI founder Jim Womack and GE Appliances CEO Kevin Nolan on why reshoring alone fails, and how GE Appliances is investing $6.5 billion in its people, systems for production and product development, and most importantly, its customer relationships.
• A Learning Partnership to Support a New Era in American Manufacturing
  The origin story: how GE Appliances partnered with LEI in 2011 to build a new management system from the ground up after bringing 3,000 manufacturing jobs back to Louisville, KY.
• Lean Improvement Group Helps Appliance Maker Reshore Products
  Rich Calvaruso, GE lifer of 36 years, traces the arc from first lean activities in 2005, to reshoring in 2009, to becoming America’s No. 1 appliance company. An accessible, narrative-driven read.
• Driving Strategic Alignment and Daily Improvement
  GE Appliances VP Marcia Brey on how the company uses hoshin kanri to cascade strategy into daily work, enabling cross-functional collaboration and developing leaders through structured reflection.

Agenda Snapshot

• DAY 1: Kickoff Reception – Meet your coaches and peers.
• DAY 2: Toyota Kentucky – Walk Toyota’s largest global plant with TSSC coaches. See how the facility manages thousands of daily production adjustments. It’s the same plant MIT’s Steven Spear studied as a model of sustained organizational performance. 
• DAY 3: Summit Polymers – See 30+ years of TPS in a Tier 1 supplier that recently invested $37.5 million to grow its production capacity in Kentucky. Experience their production system that enables real-time visibility and responsiveness and helped it earn back-to-back GM Supplier of the Year.
• DAY 4: GE Appliances – See a $6.5B transformation 15 years in the making. GE Appliances has partnered with LEI since 2011 to build their management system from the ground up. Your coaches know this organization from the inside. Includes an evening at FirstBuild, GE’s business innovation for product innovation. 

Download the detailed agenda »

In the News

• March 2026, Toyota Pressroom: Toyota Kicks Off Milestone Year with $1 Billion Investment in Kentucky and Indiana
• August 2025, GE Appliances Pressroom: GE Appliances Announces Historic $3 Billion Investment to Expand U.S. Manufacturing
• June 2025, GE Appliances, CBS News: GE Appliances to Reshore 800 Jobs to the U.S.
• April 2022, Lane Report: Summit Polymers to Invest $37.5 Million and Create 218 Jobs in Kentucky

Who Should Attend

• C-Suite and SVPs: See how organizations making billion-dollar commitments build management systems that sustain performance across decades and leadership transitions.
• VP/Directors of Operations and CI: Learn how to connect operational excellence directly to the P&L, and bring back a plan your leadership team can act on.
• Senior Operations and Supply Chain Leaders: Gain practical insight from three world-class production environments and build a cross-industry peer network.

Bring a colleague to align on lessons learned and accelerate change. Download the Convince-Your-Boss letter »

What’s Included

This tour is a leadership experience designed to accelerate your impact.

• Walking and tram tour at TMMK
• Simulation and shop floor tour at Summit Polymers
• Exclusive up-close walk of GE Appliances shop floor
• A night at GE Appliances innovation space – FirstBuild
• Hotel (3 nights), meals, and in-tour transport
• Peer-to-peer networking with leaders across industries
• One-on-one coaching time during the tour with renowned LEI and TSSC coaches

Cancellation Policy 

You can cancel your registration for this learning tour four weeks before the tour start date for a full refund. A cancellation occurring within two to four weeks of the tour dates will be subject to 50% of your registration fee.  A cancellation occurring within two weeks of the tour will not be refunded. To cancel, please call LEI at (617) 871-2900 or email summits@lean.org.