Before looking at Gemba walks, let’s understand the word “Gemba” itself. The word comes from the Japanese language, meaning actual place. It refers to a topical location and its meaning changes depending on the context. When used in a business context, it means “the real place” where the actual work happens. For different industries/ departments, a Gemba can mean different things. For example: in the manufacturing unit, a shop floor is Gemba, in logistics it’s the warehouse. Likewise in the service industry, it can be the call centre or any customer interaction point and in the construction industry, it’s the construction site.
Taiichi Ohno, an executive at Toyota developed the concept of Gemba walk. It is a way to show respect to workers, ask questions and look for wasteful activities. The phrase “Gemba” emphasises on the act of visiting the actual work place. It pushes the upper management to see the workplace for themselves rather than merely relying on reports or assumptions. The whole act of “seeing a workplace” is done to identify non-value adding wasteful activities, improving processes, and showing respect to frontline workers. It is an important Lean practice and any company or organisation practicing Lean should diligently adhere to the practice of Gemba walk.
Gemba Walks are an important part of Lean principles because they further what Lean is set out to achieve. These walks help in observing the process, give opportunities to spot inefficiencies, and interact with employees or workers. Gemba walks when done correctly improve the process of continuous improvement.
Gemba Walks and Its Importance in Lean
- As mentioned above Gemba walks is a tool and a practice to identify waste, improve processes and gather employee input. If your business processes are showing less than satisfactory results, a gemba walk is a resourceful technique for the root cause analysis.
- A Gemba walk as a part of Lean management underscores the importance of engaged leadership. Any company or organization practicing lean understands that work cannot happen in a vacuum. It involves participation from all stakeholders, including executives and managers.
- Gemba Walks allow them to visit the actual place of operations (such as a production floor) and observe how a specific operation is undertaken from start to end. It enables managers to leave their cushioned daily routines, recognise waste, ask questions to employees and build mutual trust and relationships.
- The interaction between the managers and frontline workers allow them to give and receive information regarding an operation. The purpose of Gemba walk is to understand the process at the actual place of work.
- Time spent on Gemba walks and interacting with employees (who are involved in customer interaction) give insights on what the customer actually wants. Therefore, the higher ups can create policies or come up with solutions to satisfy their customers and employees needs.
What is not or shouldn’t be done during a Gemba walk?
A Gemba walk is not an exercise to throw harsh criticisms at workers. It’s also not to discount the employees inputs (suggestions or feedback). Receiving inputs about a specific task is one of the main goals of Gemba walk. Managers must refrain from finding faults and calling out employees for slow or less than satisfactory processes. Instead, they should ask questions (the 5 whys). They must also use a collaborative approach to find inefficiencies that can be corrected and prevented. Lastly, if a manager or an executive spots a lack in the process, they must avoid implementing quick and immediate changes. It can cause confusion or chaos amongst the workers. Instead find a solution and create an action plan before charting out any haphazard changes.
The Gemba Process: 8 Steps Involved in a Gemba Walk
For a successful Gemba walk, it is crucial to set a goal and clear out expectations of all the stakeholders involved. Whether it’s a construction site or a production floor, the objective is to observe how the actual work is done. The root cause analysis of waste and inefficiencies also give a chance to review the value stream. A manager, an executive or an operations in-charge must prepare a Gemba checklist before going for a Gemba walk.
1. Define Your Purpose
The purpose and theme of conducting a Gemba walk must be clear and well defined. As a manager or an executive, you may want to oversee the business operations for reasons like cost effectiveness, identifying waste, reduction of errors etc. Having a clear goal is necessary otherwise you may get caught up in tasks being performed rather than asking the right questions in case of lack of clear goal.
2. Make Sure You Understand Process
If you lack understanding of the process you are about to review, then the purpose of Gemba walk would be incomplete. You won’t be able to identify opportunities for improvement or areas where value isn’t created. To give valuable insights, ask the right questions and show respect to the frontline workers, must have a strong grasp over the process.
3. Inform Your Team Beforehand
A huge part of Gemba walk is respecting people (frontline workers), therefore they must be made aware beforehand about the Gemba walk. Workers must be made to understand the clear objective of a Gemba walk. They must know that it is carried out to reduce waste and contribute towards the continuous improvement of the process. This way they will be better prepared and open to be collaborative rather than fearful.
4. Choose a Time for a Gemba Walk
Do not show up at a random hour to assess the “place of actual work”. A specific time of the day must be assigned for a Gemba walk. As a lean practice, it means finding the root cause of a problem and making things faster, easier and more efficient. You are not there to call out a worker or catch them off guard.
5. Analyse the Process, Not People
A successful Gemba walk consists of analysing the process/operation and not people. It is not carried out to evaluate your team’s performance or productivity. You have to find out about how the process is getting carried out, and you may actually find an inefficiency which might be causing a decline in an employee’s productivity. In other words, focus should be on the process.
6. Ask Questions & Document Observations
Always ask all the necessary questions regarding the process, gather input and record your observations. Don’t try to give out immediate solutions or analysis. Your approach should be systematic. First gather all the data, analyse them, find how you can resolve issues and fill in gaps that might be causing inefficient business operations.
7. Find Gaps Between the Goal and Process at Hand
Another important step is to recognize the gap between the goal you have set and the process that is being observed. For example: if your goal for a Gemba walk is to oversee the production of goods and time taken for final delivery, you need to assess the speed and look for wasteful activities.
8. Continuous Improvement by a Follow Up
Always do a follow up with your team after a Gemba walk, even if you weren’t able to find any gaps or inefficiencies. The goal is also to share with them about ways in which a seemingly good process can be improved further. After all, it’s about continuous improvement.
Companies must seek Lean consultancy to learn more about Gemba walk. Lena consultants are trained experts that will enable implementation of different Lean practices for continuous improvement and productivity.