Good morning. Nothing screams ‘yesterday’s man’ (or woman) like talking about kaizens and lean manufacturing. The continuous-improvement program made famous by Toyota in the 1950s was embraced by corporate America before many of us got our first job. Today GE Aerospace CEO Larry Culp is an ardent proponent, as are Ford’s Jim Farley and Baxter International chief Andrew Hider, who just concluded his first annual “President’s Kaizen Week.” But maximizing value while minimizing waste through human-led continuous improvement processes can sound quaint. Most manufacturers would rather talk about digital transformation, automation, and AI than poka-yoke, gemba walks and the three…