M4E #19: Gemba walks
It’s time for another fancy japanese term used in lean: Gemba. The literal translation of the term is “the real place” and, in the case of manufacturing, it represents the factory floor, the place where value is created. Thus, a Gemba walk or going to the Gemba is the act of walking the factory to interact with people doing the job, get input from them and take responsibility for any need the team may have to solve problems and make improvements. Taiichi Ohno, the founder of this concept summarised this process as “Go and see, ask why and respect people”. In the following video you can see a real example of a Gemba walk in a Toyota factory.
Time for Insights
Gemba walks shouldn’t be random promenades through the factory seeing what problems arise every day. They should have a target and each one of them be oriented towards a topic such as quality problems, ergonomic improvements, process bottlenecks, etc. Also, they are not meant to blame people or point fingers. The spirit is to collaborate with the team and find problems together.
Taiichi Ohno said “When you enter the factory you should walk in a way that takes you hours to go 100 meters. If it takes you no time at all to walk 100 meters that means no one is relying on you”. This quote has some important messages: 1) Enter the factory, many managers doesn’t even bother to visit their processes, 2) Spend time to solve problems with your people.
Remember that although this concept is applied in manufacturing environments the idea behind it also applies to many other businesses.
Golden rule: People working in the process know more about it than you do. Listen to them.