Japan Ryuji Fukuda, Ph.D.
Author of “Building Organizational Fitness”, “Managerial Engineering” , “Cedac”, Advisor to Japan Management Association, Deming Prize Recipient, Fukuda & Associates Tokyo,
“Dr. Toni Davies is a good friend of mine, who works in the same field of specialty. Some of the methods that she uses at her clients may have been used by me at my clients a little earlier. However, what should be noted is that she has added her own interpretation to these methods and developed an original curriculum of her own.
Taking industrial processes as an example, she focuses on the fact that a process producing products of which 80% are determined to meet the standard by inspection is obviously different from a process producing products of which 100% are determined to be acceptable or none is found to be defective by inspection and emphasizes the necessity of process improvement and kaizen. I highly appreciate her acute observation of the field where things are actually being carried out, that is, genba.
“Creation” means to take notice of things that are taken for granted and put them into practice earlier than other people do. In this age of rapid technological innovations, it is impossible for a single person to be versed with everything. Therefore, it is desirable to develop personnel whose knowledge and skill levels are rated 5.3 or 5.5 on a radar chart, if the full mark on the chart is 5. An organization needs to develop one or two such extraordinary people for each subject matter and other members of the organization need to know “who knows what”. Dr. Davies also has an excellent ability that works to nurture such people. In addition, it goes without saying that her abilities that I described above are supported by her sincere personality and high level of intelligence.
Andrew Parris, Ph.D, World Vision, International
Business Process Specialist at World Vision
“Toni provided outstanding Gemba Kaizen training for World Vision in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. She has deep Kaizen experience and wisdom. She related very well to the African context, was a very flexible and responsive trainer and facilitator, and actively engaged all participants in learning how to continuously improve in their Gemba. The teams trained are making important changes that will lead to significantly improved performance. Toni continues to help out by providing one-on-one coaching/mentoring with one of our Process Improvement Leads in Ethiopia.I highly recommend Toni as a world class Gemba Kaizen Sensei – instructor, facilitator and coach/mentor.”
Ozzie Gontang, Ph.D.
Vistage International
“There was a book out a few years ago about quality. It was called I Know It When I See It.
When it comes to the work of Toni and her team in Kaizen/Lean in companies, they truly are about Quality, Cost, and Delivery. Toni and her team are an organization that can assist any company in moving to a higher level of performance and competence.
Toni knows what needs to be done in the grand scheme of things. She is about helping organizations understand the system they need to create and assisting them to develop the people to do what needs to be done to accomplish what needs to be accomplished.”
Kim Kaddatz
Co-Founder & Managing Partner, (1987-1999) at Kaizen Institute of America
“As Co-founder and the Managing Partner of the Kaizen Institute of America, for over 20 years I both consulted in the concepts of Kaizen and Continuous Improvement, and managed our group of over 30 consultants for almost half of that time. Since joining the Kaizen Institute in 1994, Dr. Davies’ ability to not only grasp the concepts but to immediately put them into practical application astounded me. Her ability to assimilate data, analyze it from both a technical and social perspective, develop a vision for where she we wanted to go, develop the implementation plan and then put it to work was exciting (and satisfying) to watch. It still is! She has the ability to deal with complex political and leadership issues and at the same time be able to translate and relate to the Gemba (where the work is done) with equal ease and effectiveness. She has managed to use her wonderful intelligence, patience and thoroughness with detail to create a personal competence matched by few. Toni’s ability to develop long lasting customer relationships was unmatched by any of the consultants I worked with. Having said all that, her honesty, integrity and ethic’s are some of her strongest attributes. I am pleased and honored to be able to write this recommendation for Toni. She deserves all good things and I wish her continued success!”
Dermott Corr, CEO
Johnson Diversey Equipment
“With Toni Davies’ assistance and leadership we were able to implement significant and novel processes throughout our business that gave marked improvements in efficiency and quality. Toni initially diagnosed the issues and challenges and laid out a strategic implementation plan that built in Kaizen training and development at all levels in the organization through Policy Deployment and integrating Lean/Kaizen tools to implement process changes. Of particular value was the instruction and facilitation of in-house trainers to bring training throughout the company not only in the development of the various tools but also the alignment of thinking and approach to ensure successful implementation. This diagnosis resulted in annual plans and goals tailored to the organization’s ability to absorb and implement them at a pace that could be managed while dealing with the requirements of the on-going business.
Personally, I found the approach, and Toni’s individual coaching, enlightening and valuable in the growth of my leadership skills and enjoyed my involvement throughout the engagement. For someone looking to make positive organizational change that will endure I would strongly recommend Davies Consulting and Toni’s services.”
Jeffrey Rulis
EnerSys™, Jeffrey Rulis, Managing Director, Asia Operations
“With Toni Davies and her staff, we used an integrated LeanKaizen strategy. We improved quality, reduced scrap, improved efficiency, increased throughput and capacity, reduced inventory and cycle time dramatically, improved organization, and plant appearance. This resulted in improved sales as customers were confident in the quality, plus we were able to demonstrate improvements.
One advantage that Davies Consulting offers is their ability to put together a customized program that fit our needs. I feel a larger consulting company would just try to implement a “canned” program that would not offer the same level of personal service. Toni and her Staff really understood our plant culture, and helped to be more effective in our Kaizen program implementation.
I believe Toni is an expert in the field of Kaizen and she is an extremely talented trainer, with an ability to communicate effectively with everyone in the organization. Toni’s experience working in many different companies, in many different Countries, helped her to provide a level of personal service that was much higher than expected.”
Lou English, Ph.D.
Sr. Consultant and Account Manager
“Toni Davies is one of the best strategic thinkers in the lean transformation business today. This is the person senior leadership calls to help them decide how to best achieve a lean culture and resulting world class performance. Toni knows all the pieces of the lean transformation puzzle. She can initiate a diagnosis, train people on the appropriate tools and technologies, coach managers to be change agents and insure business results are achieved. I have worked with Toni both as a colleague and business partner and have found no person better able to give smart, business focused advice on what it takes to become a lean centered organization.”
Alan Robinson, Ph.D.
Author of “Continuous Improvement in Operations” and “Corporate Creativity” University of Massachusetts at Amherst
“I found Toni Davies to be an extremely impressive person. It is clear to me that Toni Davies is very knowledgeable in the broader area of continuous improvement. Without hesitation, I recommend her to any company seeking to install an effective program of continuous improvement. I feel that she has exceptionally strong command of practical issues of implementation, that is, she will give good advice on what to do, why it should be done, and how to do it. Such skills are far from commonplace. I recommend Toni Davies highly.”
B. Bouldin
Allied-Signal, Inc., Manager Training and Development
“At Allied-Signal, Inc. (Bendix Automotive Systems) North America, we have had the pleasure of working with Toni Davies on a division-wide launch of CEDAC, which we initiated in the early 1990s. We are extremely pleased with the performance and conscientious support of Toni Davies as both a trainer and a consultant. She has been well received at our manufacturing locations by hourly and salaried employees alike. Already, we are seeing positive results from Employee Involvement teams using CEDAC, results which show that CEDAC is more than a problem-solving tool alone. It is, however, the personal effectiveness of Toni Davies as a trainer and motivator that augments the design and impact of the training and implementation.”
Evangelina Jones, Ph.D
Dept. of Policy Studies in Language and Cross-Cultural Education San Diego State University, SDSU, Associate Professor Emerita
“I teach a masters-level course to students who want to deepen their curriculum development knowledge and expertise, and lead the transformation of how they work with children, parents, community members, and educators at their respective school sites. As Dr. Davies spoke to my students, they were completely absorbed with the Kaizen concepts and examples, and were able to visualize how Kaizen principles could re-shape the process in their school communities to better benefit their stakeholders. What had been missing in the traditional in-service workshops was a set of principles that all colleagues could buy into and commit to follow. We got the “what to do” but we didn’t work on the “how to keep it real and alive” – which requires a sense of self-leadership and responsibility. My students grasped this right away, and in the following weeks after Dr. Davies’s talk, my students re-conceptualized their proposed solutions to call for a deeper sense of “owning” the proposed actions at an individual level. Dr. Davies had an amazing impact on my students’ thinking – with just one talk!”
Gina Pesano
The Toro Company, Manager Continuous Improvement
“Toni approaches kaizen, lean, and continuous improvement from a holistic, systems-oriented perspective. This differs from many consultants out there who are “tools focused” and fail to emphasize the change needed in management systems to support a kaizen culture. Toni’s exceptional analytical skills as well as the deep, intuitive grasp she has of her subject matter enable her to customize her approach as needed to meet the unique needs of the organizations she works with.
With Davies Consulting, Inc., organizationally we have learned much more about kaizen and continuous improvement. Trained 25 people who then facilitated improvement teams throughout the corporate office. We moved from a “tools” orientation to a “systems” approach to kaizen. We realized that the tools cannot be sustained without a shift in how we manage our people and processes.
Toni is one of the true experts in her field.”
Bell Nordic, J.M.L., President
Japan Study Tour 2003, Participant, Kaizen Institute
“A word of great gratitude for your warm presence, generous advice and exchanges over our favourite: kaizen!
Even with colleagues (not to say competitors) your heart was a big as this world, a world in need of respect, humanity, and efficiencies.”
Richard Crowley
Performance Improvement Engineer, Saint Louis Children’s Hospital
“I’ve had the opportunity to work with Toni Davies on numerous occasions over the past 13 years. Watching Toni work in many different industries, I have absolutely no question that she truly takes the clients best interest to heart.
Toni Davies is one of the best I know at working with Leadership to establish the overall strategy of the organization. She has a knack for helping them “see and understand” what they need to do to lead the organization.
However, her expertise doesn’t stop there. Toni’s experience working under Ryuji Fukuda, who developed the world renowned CEDAC process, has without a doubt given her the ability to be the best I’ve seen at helping the organization execute the strategy once it’s in place.”