Michael Hoseus

Michael Hoseus holds a Masters of Arts in Counseling from Asbury Theological Seminary. Further, he has a degree in Business and Psychology from Xavier University. He is associated with the University of Dayton’s Center for Competitive Change, an adjunct professor with the University of Kentucky’s Center for Manufacturing in its Lean Manufacturing Program, and is a member of the faculty of Lean Enterprise Institute. Mike has contributed to many community boards, including the Kentucky Community and Technical College System and the Lexington Mayor’s Partnership for Youth.

The mission of The Lean Enterprise Institute Inc., founded in 1997, is to evaluate lean thinking and practice. Research is ongoing, books and eBooks are published, conferences are held, and educational workshops are put on to evaluate lean thinking.

Lean Quality philosophy does not concentrate on the inanimate hardware of business practices based upon spreadsheets and computers. This philosophy places its emphasis on a business’s greatest assets, which are its employees, creating a “People First Culture”. The focus on this culture is to fuel the human spirit creating an atmosphere of peak performance and leadership skills.

Michael Hoseus is the Executive Director for the Center for Quality People & Organizations (CQPO), and President of Lean Culture Enterprises. CQPO was organized in 1999 to enhance Toyota Motor Manufacturing’s human resource practices with community organizations, businesses, and education.

Before CQPO, Mike Hoseus was a corporate leader for 13 years at the Toyota Motor Manufacturing’s Georgetown, in its Kentucky plant, the largest Toyota manufacturing plant. In 1987, He was first employed in vehicle assembly as a front line supervisor. He was then promoted to the Assistant General Manager in Human Resources, concentrating on efficiency and effectiveness of processes.
The Kentucky plant had 8000 team members, and Mike’s responsibilities also included personnel, HR development, employee relations, benefits, and training. Mike was known for the development of the enhancement of ties between Human Resource and Manufacturing and his emphasis on Lean Culture focuses on Executive Management and Human Resources to train quality people to increase production. Mike supports organizations with Lean Culture transformations.

Toyota employs Lean Thinking to enhance the core processes of operations management, which can include such areas as purchasing, product, and service, production, quality management, inventory management, supply chain management, logistics, and transportation management, facilities management, configuration management, distribution channels, and enterprise resource planning.

Michael Hoseus, co-authored with Jeffrey Liker “Toyota Culture – The Heart and Soul of the Toyota Way” which is a winner of the Shingo Award. The Toyota Way involves a four-stage process referred to as Attract, Develop, Engage, and Inspire. The Toyota Way takes advantage of Liker’s decades of research as well as Hoseus’ experience as a Toyota manager.

The Toyota Culture analyzes Toyota’s concept of “human systems,” which instills the principles of mutual prosperity and trust. These principles have resulted in worldwide commercial success in its offices, plants, and dealerships. These principles have resulted in developing and motivating Toyota’s employees to commit to the building of competitive high-quality products.