ABOUT US

PURPOSE

Based in Boston, we support business excellence through lean thinking. We transform business by solidifying growth strategy and teaching systematic thinking rather than simple cost-cutting.

OUR AFFILIATES

Makoto Boston is an affiliate of Makoto International, headquartered in Tokyo, Japan, and Makoto Asia Pacific, based in Australia. Find more about Makoto Boston affiliates on the Makoto International and Makoto Asia Pacific websites:

Makoto International - www.makoto-investments.com
Makoto Asia Pacific - www.makoto.com.au

LEADING MAKOTO BOSTON

Keiko Fuchioka is a highly accomplished and driven consultant, who brings significant value to an organization seeking to implement Lean principles, drive excellence, and foster positive change. Her combination of expertise, credential, and passion for coaching makes her an invaluable asset to any business looking to thrive in today’s competitive landscape. Keiko Fuchioka is a Business Excellence leader with a track record spanning over three decades across diverse industries. Her expertise lies in implementing Lean Thinking into management strategies, and she is deeply passionate about fostering a Lean culture within organizations. Keiko’s purpose-driven approach has been instrumental in catalyzing positive transformations, benefiting customers, engaging employees and overall business outcomes. Keiko holds Lean Six Sigma Master Black Belt certification granted by the globally acclaimed General Electric Company. With experience in finance, life science and manufacturing sectors, she brings a wealth of knowledge to share to the table. In addition, she holds certification as a Prosci Change Management practitioner as well as SAFe (Scaled Agile Framework) leader. Keiko specializes in developing tailored workshops that emphasize effective leadership. Through these workshops, she methodically guides leaders in setting Mission/Success Vision/Goals with KPIs and developing strategies to achieve them. Keiko offers her hands in developing customized Lean management systems to meet the unique needs of the individual organizations. Besides partnering and mentoring with business leaders on their Lean management journey, she also contributes to the development of emerging business leaders in the classroom as an educator at a top-tier business school. She enjoys life in Boston, MA, with her family, balancing her busy career with a fulfilling personal life.

OUR PARTNER IN JAPAN

As the founder and president of Makoto Global, Brad Schmidt has been a Lean consultant for over two decades. Brad's varied engagements range from working with companies as small as 15 people, to multi-nationals. His industries of experience include Manufacturing (from making bolts to making airplanes), Logistics (from 4 people operations to global), Service (Front end and back end) Finance and Service. Brad achieves great results across diverse industries. He is passionate about teaching and motivating the real experts – the people doing the work who are there to see how to take action. Brad relishes opportunities to implement performance increasing programs, in addition to training and sharing knowledge with internal leaders. Business leaders globally are able to engage with Brad and Training Within Industry on Makoto’s Japan Lean Experience Tours. Makoto's TWI opportunities follow the original Toyota training methodology, providing insight into how participants can shape and deliver their own sustainable business transformation. Born and raised in Japan, Brad has connected with Toyota Lean experts and was immersed in Lean thinking from an early age. Subsequently, Brad is also native in both English and Japanese. Languages: English, Japanese

OUR PARTNERS IN AUSTRALIA

Daniel Giles has a proven background in the implementation of Lean culture in businesses across the mining and manufacturing sectors. He is a strong Lean Practitioner who takes a pragmatic approach to ensuring sustainable change occurs in the businesses of his clients. Daniel started in the mining industry more than 20 years ago as a heavy duty mechanic, and has since completed a Bachelor of Business (Marketing). Daniel has risen through the ranks of the largest Caterpillar Dealership in Australia, gaining his Lean expertise in the advanced Caterpillar Black Belt Programs. Subsequently Daniel has the ability to engage at every level of major public companies and local mid-sized businesses. Daniel has partnered with well regarded boutique Lean consultancy, Makoto Global, launching Makoto Asia Pacific. Makoto Asia Pacific services the region with a people centric delivery of Lean and Six Sigma training, study tours and consulting. Daniel regularly studies in Japan to ensure he brings the best knowledge on offer back to the Asia Pacific region.

With a background in ERP implementation and business process improvement across the cabinet making and manufacturing sector, Taylor Berkelaar takes an enthusiastic but practical approach to ensuring sustainable change occurs in the businesses of his clients. Taylor has been involved in the construction industry for almost 10 years. During this time he has completed a Bachelor of Commerce, in addition to running his own decorative concrete business. More recently, Taylor’s experience has been in Enterprise Resources Planning software, working in the role of Lead Sales and Integration Specialist. In this way, Taylor has gained experience working with businesses of all sizes in the manufacturing sector. His key areas of expertise are software integration, business process improvement and change management, with an industry focus on manufacturing and office processes. Taylor is an accomplished Consulting Partner at Makoto Asia Pacific.