Bob Bennett

A 29-year Toyota veteran, Bob served as a group vice president and officer of Toyota Motor Sales, U.S.A., Inc.; where he played a key role in developing the organizational and operational infrastructure to support the development of Toyota’s huge North American production, supply chain, logistics and service operations in North America. In his final 8 years as General Manager of Toyota’s $3 billion North American Parts Logistics Division, he led the deployment of the highly regarded Toyota Production System (TPS) throughout his supply chain of 535 suppliers, 13 distribution centers, 7 North American distributors and 1,400 Toyota and Lexus dealers, creating an operation that is the icon of the automotive industry—achieving industry-leading supply performance to customers with double the inventory turns of competitors and 50% higher labor productivity.

As President of Lean Consulting Associates, Bob has brought together the unique talents of numerous former Toyota senior Lean experts to help North American companies succeed against growing global competition. Adapting Toyota’s “Lean System Thinking” to every variety of client, their transformational work produces competitive advantage for growth in revenue and profits. Clients include Nike, Avery Dennison, Bombardier Aerospace, Regal-Beloit, Philips, Shell Oil, USAF, Defense Logistics Agency, Alcoa, Stanford Hospital, Custom Building Products, Pankow Construction, ArcLight Cinemas, private equity funds and others, who average well over 1,000% return on their investment in LCA’s services.

During the Viet Nam era, Bob served nearly 6 years as Captain in the U.S. Air Force, twice being recognized with the “Supply Officer of the Year” Award. Bob’s Toyota Lean JIT supply chain from suppliers to customers is described in Jim Womack’s and Dan Jones breakthrough book, Lean Thinking. He earned his MBA with honors from USC in 1972, and currently serves on the board of directors of the CSCMP Southern California Roundtable.