ROLLING MEADOWS, IL — The Association of Manufacturing’s Excellence Inside Conference will welcome four honorees into its Hall of Fame at a ceremony in Toronto. The 2013 class of recipients will be recognized for distinguishing themselves in the manufacturing community in a manner that is consistent with AME’s mission to inspire a commitment to enterprise excellence through experiential learning by bringing people together to share, learn and grow.

“It is through the work of visionaries like this year’s inductees that manufacturing is experiencing a renaissance and resurgence,” said Paul Kuchuris, AME president. “Their contributions to the lean manufacturing community have helped propel our organization and the industry at large forward.”

This year’s honorees are:

John Shook is chairman and CEO of the Lean Enterprise Institute, a nonprofit organization based in Cambridge, Mass., with a mission to advance lean thinking around the world. He wrote” Learning to See” and “Managing to Learn” with Mike Rother. Shook brings a lifetime of experience to his role with the Institute. He honed his lean management techniques during his 11 years at Toyota, where he became the first American kacho, manager in Japan. Shook is also the former director of the University of Michigan Japan Technological Management Program. He served on the faculty of the university’s Department of Industrial and Operations Engineering.

Tom Hartman, director of operations for Autoliv Americas, the world’s largest producer of automotive safety products. Hartman provides executive support and strategic leadership for seatbelt, airbag and steering operations in the Americas. He is a member of the Shingo Prize board of governors and a member of the Shingo Academy. Also a member of the team that launched and fostered lean methods within Autoliv, Hartman played a key role in developing its widely-recognized culture.

Daniel Jones is the founding chairman of the Lean Enterprise Academy in the United Kingdom, an organization specializing in lean thinking implementation. He is a best-selling author lean thinking manuals, offering insights gleaned from the implementation of lean strategies at organizations such as Tesco. His management books include co-author of “Lean Thinking”, which, sparked a worldwide lean practitioner movement and led to the establishment of the Lean Global Network, a coalition that has organized more than 25 lean summits around the globe. Jones has served as the European director of MIT’s Future of the Automobile and International Motor Vehicle Programs. He is a professor of manufacturing management and founder of the Lean Enterprise Research Centre at Cardiff University Business School.

Mike Rother is an engineer, independent researcher, teacher, author and speaker whose groundbreaking insights make the leap between theory and practice of lean thinking. Rother is a best-selling author with previous affiliations with the University of Michigan, Industrial Technology Institute, Fraunhofer Institute and Technical University Dortmund. His most recent book, “Toyota Kata” examines the Improvement Kata, which is a teachable, repeatable routine that makes scientific working a daily habit and provides a clear path for leveraging human potential. Rother’s book “Learning to See,” co-authored with John Shook, is widely regarded as the standard explanation and user guide for Value Stream Mapping.