Gemba lean meaning
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This practice becomes a great visual investigation tool, helping leaders identify wasteful activities, get a deep understanding of their root causes, and engage teams in eliminating them.
Reconnect leadership to real value added
A Gemba Walk refocuses leadership on these crucial questions – where is the added value? Schedule recurring Gemba visits, track progress, and adjust your approach to embed continuous improvement into your company’s Lean Management routines.
Best practices for a successful Gemba Walk process
Train leaders on Gemba Walks
The practice of Gemba Walks requires specific skills.
It combines physical presence – essential for understanding processes – with digital support – which enables the tracking of observations and actions and helps sustain a high level of performance. However, by enabling direct observation of the value stream, movements, and interactions, Gemba Walks reveal these obstacles that key performance indicators alone can’t.
By observing processes from end to end, stakeholders can better understand where frictions are and work collaboratively to optimize them.
Stronger managerial credibility: By regularly going to the Gemba, leaders demonstrate that they are aware of the constraints, realities, and opportunities of the floor, and that they are committed to improving work processes and employee well-being.
Greater consistency between strategy and action: Strategic goals are linked to operational issues identified on the Gemba, which ensures that improvement plans are based on tangible observations.
What is a Gemba Walk?
According to the Lean Enterprise Institute, the Gemba Walk is a management practice that involves going out into the field (the Gemba) to directly observe the actual situation, ask questions, and initiate action.
The Gemba Walk enables leaders to observe processes, communicate priorities, anticipate and solve problems, support their teams, and recognize their contributions.
A Gemba Walk can consist of on-site analysis of a monitoring screen or historical data to understand what’s causing the gap.
Digital interfaces allow managers to visualize workflows, ask questions to the technical team, and compare data with observations on the floor.
The Gemba Walk now extends to the factory's digital environments.
Lead the walk and observe with an open mind
When conducting Gemba Walks, prioritize listening and observation: observe without interrupting, ask open-ended questions, and focus on the actual process – not on individuals. Coupled with Gemba, it refers to the implementation of incremental and on-going transformations oriented toward the factory floor.
Integrating the principles of Gemba and Kaizen into management practices brings many benefits that reinforce continuous process improvement and strengthen the relationship between leadership and the floor:
Kaizen initiatives: Rather than pushing solutions, managers encourage employees to identify opportunities for continuous improvement, empower them, and work with them to develop corrective measures.
Learning-based management: To the Gemba, decisions aren’t based on assumptions or isolated data, but on concrete and observable insights.
In our public enrollment courses, we teach people who are gainfully employed and those between employment about the leansix sigma tools.
Those students that are between jobs usually have the same question: “How can I complete cost savings or six sigma project if I am unemployed?”
We teach Lean, and Six Sigma tools in classes all over the U.S.
(as well as abroad) and a good number of the students that we teach are not from an organization.
Industry Example Gemba Manufacturing Factory floor Hospital Operating room Hospitality Kitchen, dining room Construction Job site Software Software code The term often is used to stress that real improvement requires a shop-floor focus based on direct observation of current conditions where work is done.
We ask our students if there is a food bank in their area; this is the perfect place for a project.
Another suggestion we often have as a source for potential projects is students’ local churches or other places of worship. We ask our students if they know of any of these companies, and we always get a resounding “yes”.
We always tell them “What is the worst they can tell you when you offer a ‘Pro Bono’ Lean and/or Six Sigma project to help them improve?”
There are many non-profit organizations that are struggling to serve their communities because they do not have the talent to “streamline” processes.
It’s about adjusting strategies based on the realities of the floor.
Increased collaboration: Gemba promotes collaboration between departments. It transforms the leader's role, shifting from one who commands to one who learns, from one who verifies to one who understands, from one who imposes to one who facilitates.
Gemba Walks encourage leaders to engage in a business process, here and now, to solve problems and continuously create value.
7 Steps to implement Gemba Walks in your plant
1.
What is Gemba?
The Japanese word “Gemba” refers to “the real place” or “actual place”. It brings leaders closer to the reality of the floor, where operational excellence is built. Take notes and add photos as needed to facilitate analysis and prioritize actions.
6.
The gemba is different depending on the industry.
In this sense, it offers three strategic advantages:
Visibility: Gemba exposes the processes being carried out, problematic areas, unplanned downtime, and implemented adjustments.
Dialogue: It engages employees on the floor, breaks down hierarchical silos, and makes everyday realities tangible.
Responsiveness: It helps trigger immediate actions (quick fixes) and identify opportunities for continuous improvement (Kaizen).
Gemba and Genchi Genbutsu: “Go and see for yourself”
In Lean philosophy, Gemba is often coupled with the concept of Genchi Genbutsu, which means “go and see for yourself” or literally, "actual place and actual thing".
Prepare and plan the route
The Gemba Walk shouldn't be done randomly.