Roy L. Harmon

In the 1970's, manufacturing and warehousing Accenture consultant, Roy Harmon, worked with Yamaha Motors, in Japan, on the design and implementation of company-wide productivity improvement projects that achieved astounding results, doubling productivity. Upon returning to the United States, he began a worldwide campaign to bring the Japanese techniques, with improvements, to the Western world. Starting with Germany's Siemens, and followed by many of the largest companies in the world, Harmon traveled extensively in Europe, Asia, Africa and the Americas, heading productivity improvement projects and training the Accenture consulting firm's personnel in the methods he used. At the time of his retirement, 2,000 Accenture consultants were specializing in his techniques, around the globe.

In 1989, Roy decided to leave a legacy of his lifetime experience and began to capture it in a series of four books. The first two were translated into German and published by Campus Verlag as "Die neue Fabrik"and "Das Management der Neuen Fabrik". His last two books, "Reinventing the Warehouse" and "Reinventing the Business", published by The Free Press, are among the titles that have been translated into several languages including, French, Spanish, Portuguese, Turkish, and Korean.

In 2008, MakotoTakayanagi-san asked me to assist in the preparation of the English translation and publication of his book. I began the initial editing and subsequently writing some original materials such as the book's glossary and index and a new beginning entitled, "Management Perspective". I didn't dream that my work on the book, and its publication and promotion, would span a year between the start of editing and culminating with its publication. The book, "Supplier to Worldwide Toyota Factories: Made in Japan", published by WingSpan Press in 2009, appears on over 100 websites of 27 countries.

In 2012, faced with deteriorating health, his wife insisted he publish his memoirs, for his children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren. He had, since 2003, been writing vignettes from his life experiences, some of which were quite unusual. However, from common roots, he believes himself a common man--thus the subtitle to "Accenture's Manufacturing Guru", "A Common Man, an Uncommon Life". the book recounts the molding life experience that equipped him to impart his experience-based expertise and creativity to hundreds of consultants he trained and supervised on six continents.