An article in Bloombergbusinessweek (April 26, 2012) describes the efficiency improvement generated by a private equity firm Monomoy Capital Partners. Examples include reducing forklift times by 10 minutes, finding lost inventory, streamlining operations etc. The company claims to runs kaizens repeatedly to extract improvements. Visual management through reduced inventory, one piece flow etc all release efficiencies that the firm extracts and thus reduces the headcount required to run operations. Does the role of private equity in releasing value using the Toyota Production system suggest its value creation role for ailing manufacturing firms ? If so much value exists to be released, can it be acheived without the need for private equity firms to take over ? Does the article suggest the need for finance curricula to incorporate the basics of operations management to release value for firms ?