The Gold Mine: A Novel of Lean Turnaround

Freddy Ballé worked as a manufacturing and engineering manager at Renault for 30 years where he was manufacturing engineering director and then Industrial Vice President for the Renault truck business, Renault Industrial Vehicles (RVI). He started visiting Toyota plants in Japan in the mid-1970s, where he discovered the power of the Toyota Production System. On leaving Renault, Freddy became technical vice president of Valeo, where he created the Valeo Production System, based on Toyota practice, which pioneered lean implementation in continental Europe. He was then CEO of the French automotive supplier Sommer-Allibert, where he introduced the Sommer-Allibert Excellence System. He wound up his corporate career as technical vice president of the French automotive supplier Faurecia as it implemented the Faurecia Excellence System. In recent years Freddy has founded ESG Consultants (www.esgconsultants.com) to advise industrial clients on making the lean transformation described in The Gold Mine. Michael Ballé, business consultant and author, is associate professor (adjunct) at the American University of Paris and the co-founder of the Project Lean Entreprise (www.lean.enst.fr). This is France’s leading lean initiative, conducted in collaboration with Telecom Paris, where Michael is associate researcher. For over a decade, he has focused on the human implications of lean implementation in fields as diverse as healthcare and administrative processes. He has published several books on these topics. He is Freddy’s son.Michael Balle is the author of 'The Gold Mine: A Novel of Lean Turnaround', published 2005 under ISBN 9780974322568 and ISBN 0974322563.