Hello, I’m Marcos Kawagoe and I’m Honsha’s Senior Technical Director in Latin America, supporting projects in different types of Business inside and outside Brazil. I am from São Paulo – SP, grandson of Japanese immigrants who came to Brazil after the Second World War in search of new opportunities and possibilities to prosper in Brazil.

Since I was very young, my parents placed a lot of emphasis on my education, going to great lengths to ensure that my siblings and I could attend good schools. I went to elementary school at one of the best public schools in SP, Caetano de Campos, and high school at Colégio Bandeirantes.

I graduated in Production Engineering from Escola Politécnica da USP, complementing my studies with a postgraduate degree in MBA in Administration from Instituto Mauá de Tecnologia and in Finance from Ibmec/Insper.

In 1992 I specialized in Lean/TPS (Toyota Production System), for almost 1 year, at the Denso headquarters in Japan), one of the largest auto parts industries in the world, a member of the Toyota group of companies. I had the opportunity to experience and practice Lean/TPS in the company and its suppliers.

Later, I worked at Accenture (5 years), Saint Gobain (4 years) and Embraer, with the latter having accumulated experience of around 13 years.
Since 2020, I have been a Lean consultant at Honsha, serving companies in the areas of industry, construction, services and agribusiness, among others.

At Embraer I was one of those responsible for the Lean transformation through the creation of Embraer’s Business Excellence Program in 2007, P3E, implementing Kaizen Project Execution and disseminating the Lean Philosophy throughout the company’s units around the world.

I was also responsible for creating and structuring Embraer’s Kaizen Promotion Office area, structuring the area and training the company’s Lean Specialists.
I have guided more than 500 Kaizen Blitz and Kaikaku Projects both in Brazil and abroad (China, United States, France, England, Czech Republic, Portugal and Spain), in production, administrative, engineering and service processes.

In 2014, I developed the methodology of the National Program for Increased Productivity, Industry + Productivity (later called the Brazil More Productive and Brazil + Program), promoted by the CNI (National Confederation of Industry) and acted as technical responsible for projects carried out in some states of the Country.

I also went to Japan in 2007 to specialize in Genba Kaizen at an event organized by Shingijutsu Corporation. In 2016, I returned to Japan through JICA (Japan International Cooperation Agency) for an update on Kaizen and 5S and a visit to the company Genba.

In addition to my career, I highly value work-life balance. I always try to find time to spend with my family, travel and practice physical activities, such as running and soccer with friends, to maintain well-being and quality of life.

My personal and professional values, such as ethics, transparency, trust and open communication, are the basis of my work as a business consultant and in the various relationships and interactions with the business partners with whom I work.

My main purpose is to inspire people to make changes in processes and behaviors, promoting transformation in Genba, cultural transformation and people’s development through the Lean and Kaizen way of thinking and acting, resulting in increased Productivity, Quality, Efficiency and Competitiveness.