[8] Bodek's fascination with manufacturing led him to Japan and a lifelong exploration of the methods behind Japanese quality and productivity.

[5] Over three decades, up until 2016, Bodek went to Japan 86 times,[citation needed] visited more than 250 plants and published over 250 management books.

He met Dr. W. Edwards Deming, Dr. Joseph Juran, Phil Crosby, Dr. Kaoru Ishikawa, Dr. Yoji Akao,[9] Mr. Taiichi Ohno,[10][11] Dr. Shigeo Shingo[8] and other manufacturing masters and published many of their books in English.

He was one of the first to publish books and training materials on SMED,[8] CEDAC,[13][14] Quality Control Circles, 5S,[15][16][17] and the Visual Factory[18][19] Total Productive Maintenance,[20][21] Value Stream Mapping, Kaizen[22][23][24] and Kaizen Blitz, Cell Design,[25] Poka-Yoke, Andon, Hoshin Kanri, and Kanban.

Many of these topics form the building blocks of the Toyota Production System,[10][12][22][26][27] which, in turn, is the basis for what came to be called Lean Manufacturing in America.

[34] Bodek said his most powerful discovery was the way Toyota and other Japanese companies opened the infinite creative potential often lying dormant inside every single worker.

"[35] The Harada Method is designed to teach people how to be great leaders, coaches, and to build a winning team.

Harada has been adopted by Kirin Brewery, Uniqlo (retail clothing), Nomura Securities (financial services), The Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ,[38] and Chugai Pharmaceuticals.

As adjunct professor at Portland State University's School of Business Administration, Bodek taught "The Best of Japanese Management Practices".

The AME Hall of Fame recognizes industry thought leaders and influencers who support the values, principles and practices found within leading enterprise excellence organizations.