Gemba walks

1Marek.Piatkowski@Rogers.com
Gemba Walks
Introduction
Thinkingwin, Win, WIN
Gemba Walk – Process Audit
Learning to See
Marek Piatkowski – October 2016

Gemba Walks
Introduction
Introduction - Marek Piatkowski
 Professional Background
 Toyota Motor Manufacturing Canada (TMMC) - Cambridge, Ontario from
1987-1994
 TPS/Lean Transformation Consulting - since 1994
 Professional Affiliations
 TWI Network – John Shook, Founder
 Lean Enterprise Institute (LEI) – Jim Womack
 Lean Enterprise Academy (LEA) – Daniel Jones
 CCM/CAINTRA – Monterrey, Mexico
 SME, AME, ASQ, CME
 Lean Manufacturing Solutions - Toronto, Canada
http://twi-network.com

Gemba Walks
Introduction

Gemba Walks
Introduction
Gemba Walk – Description
 Gemba (現場) is a Japanese term for “actual place,” often used for the shop floor
or any place where value-creating work actually occurs
 Compare to “Management Daily Walk About Process”, which is done on regular
basis, Gemba Walks are conducted at random only to gain a better understanding
of a process or a problem or a situation
 The aim of Gemba is to create a thorough understanding of a process and to:
 Analyse a situation by observing current conditions
 Create insight knowledge into the real situation and possible issues
 Develop a good understand of a problem, if there is a problem
 Teach/educate people by asking questions
 Engage people at continuous improvement effort
 Gemba walking is seen as a core element of Lean Transformation, practiced by
management

Gemba Walks
Introduction
Chairman of Toyota Motor Corp. and former
President of Toyota Motor Manufacturing, KY
and Toyota Motor Corp.
Toyota’s Chairman
Fujio Cho
Three Keys to Lean Leadership
 Go See
 “Senior Management must spend time
on the front lines”
 Ask Why
 “Use the “Why” techinques daily.”
 Show Respect
 “Respect your people.”

Gemba Walks
Introduction
Chairman of Toyota Motor Corp. and former
President of Toyota Motor Manufacturing, KY
and Toyota Motor Corp.
Toyota’s Chairman
Fujio Cho
“Many good companies have respect for
individuals and practice Kaizen and other TPS
tools. But what is important is having all
elements together as a management system.
It must be practiced every day in a very
consistent matter – not is spurs – in a concrete
way on the shop floor.”

Gemba Walks
Introduction
Gemba Walk – How to
 There are different ways to perform a Gemba Walk, well known examples are:
 The Ohno Circle (Taiichi Ohno at Toyota came up with this idea)
 Waste Walk (to identify the 7 wastes)
 “Put yourself in the shoes” of the Customer and Walk the Value Stream
 When performing a Gemba Walk please follow these rules:
 Go see, ask why and show respect
 Select an area and an interval (daily)
 Inform people about your intentions, or by now they should know
 Take your time
 Watch and talk to people
 Be open and judgement free
 Share your findings (with the responsible supervisor)

Gemba Walks
Introduction
 Gemba Walks can be difficult to do the first time: either the employees nor the
performing person might feel comfortable. Therefore it is key to inform people up
front about your intentions
 Other reasons:
 You are observing and that does not feel like adding value
 Sometimes you want to “jump in” and solve the problem – common mistake
 You are supposed to find improvements in work that might not be your speciality
 You (might) not have the authority, you are ‘the teacher’, not ‘the boss’
 You see opportunities, but need to teach others ‘to see’, instead of solving problems
or taking action yourself
 you think you already have a clear understanding of the situation

Gemba Walks
Introduction
 Follow the Management PDCA cycle
 Walk, stop, look, listen, learn and ask yourself these questions:
 Do I understand this process?
 Do I understand what is going on?
 Is there a Standard Process in place?
 Is the process being followed?
 Is there a problem? Is there a gap? (actual versus standard)
 Is this a normal or an abnormal situation
 How would I fix this problem?
 How would I improve this situation?
 And then talk.
 If something is not right, do something about it then, DO NOT walk by it without
action

Gemba Walks
Introduction
Gemba Walk - Description
 Shop floor is constantly changing. One must be on the shop floor to understand the
current condition
 Input from people on the shop floor is extremely valuable
 Important while doing Gemba walks is to look for:
 What is the standard?
 What is the gap (actual versus standard)?
 What is the countermeasure?
 Validate that escalation, as established, is being used. When not take the right
action to correct the situation.
 Validate that escalation makes sense and drives the business to respond better,
faster, and remedy the situation effectively, if not correct the situation.
 Check and ensure that your escalations are clear on what the person must do when
escalated to, not only who gets called when.

Gemba Walks
Introduction
Questions to ask after the Gemba Walk
 What have you seen?
 What have you learned?
 What was the reaction of the operators?
 What are you going to do with your observations?
 Who needs to see these observations?
 How are you going to teach them to see?
 When do I need to return – when do I need to do my next Gemba Walk?

Gemba Walks
Introduction
Process Audit
 Gemba is not about completing Audit Reports. If something is not right, do
something about it, DO NOT walk away without correcting the problem
 Because if you do, you just established a new standard – nothing gets done to fix it
 Creating a “To Do List” – is
NOT correcting a problem
 Listening to explanations
and promises is NOT
correcting a problem
 If it is really a problem that
requires some time to fix it
– ask how long it will take
to fix it and start your next
Gemba walk at that area

Gemba Walks
Introduction
Gemba – Teaching and Coaching
Looking for signs of Waste
Unnecessary Transportation
Unnecessary Motion Unnecessary Inventory
Unnecessary Processing

Gemba Walks
Introduction
Learning to See - Understanding Waste
 Waste cannot be ignored. If we are going to improve our efficiency and lower the
operating costs, we must look at the job cycle closely and look for ways to eliminate
waste to increase our production efficiency.
 Waste does affect people
 Causes physical fatigue
 Causes emotional fatigue
 Increases frustrations
 Increases stress
 Causes you to blame others
 Steals your time

Gemba Walks
Introduction
1. Overproduction
Overproduction is producing sooner, faster
or in greater quantities than
Customer’s Demand
Overproduction is the worst kind of Waste
because it causes other types of Wastes and
obscures the need for Improvement.

Gemba Walks
Introduction
1. Overproduction
 Failure to examine the total cost of a product or service
 Misunderstanding of the customer’s true requirements
 Pressure to maximize production to justify expensive equipment
 Variability in machinery or processes
 Poor management / work force relations

Gemba Walks
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Root Causes of Overproduction
 Production plans based on a forecast rather than actual Customer Requirements
 Producing “Just-in-Case” – hidden problems:
 equipment problems
 supplier delivery problems
 capacity problems – building ahead
 Extra storage space and containers available
 Extra manpower
 Batch processing – large lot sizes
 “Minimum Lot Size” requirements
 Lack of communication
 Cost accounting practices – “Economical Lot Sizes”
 Incorrect reward and bonuses practices

Gemba Walks
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1. Overproduction – Observations and Questions
 How does production know what to make and how much?
 Are there boxes and containers outside designated storage area at each process?
 On a production line – is one operators producing more parts than the other?
 How do the operators know if they are on schedule or not? How do they know
when to stop production?
 Are there material staging areas? How many? Why are they there?
Can they be reduced or eliminated?
 How does daily demand compare to daily output? How does this compare to
equipment capacity (is there a mismatch between capacity, output and demand)
 Is the equipment running at the stated optimal cycle time? Does anyone know
what the correct cycle time is?

Gemba Walks
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2. Unnecessary Transportation
Unnecessary movement of people and
material between processes.
Minimize the transportation steps by
gathering the work content using
continuous flow processing

Gemba Walks
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2. Unnecessary Transportation

Gemba Walks
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Root Causes of Unnecessary Transportation
 Poor or lack of standards for Material Handling activities:
 Material handling responsibilities not clearly defined
 No standard routes
 No standard pick-up and delivery instructions
 No standard equipment, containers
 Lack of visual management
 Extra carts, fork lifts, dollies
 Improper facility layout - multiple storage locations
 Extra material racks and storage space
 Complex inventory management – ongoing parts shortages and expediting

Gemba Walks
Introduction
2. Unnecessary Transportation - Observations and Questions
 Does material flow smoothly from one end of the plant to the other?
 How is material handling performed, are there dedicated routes with dedicated
material handling people?
 How do material handling people know when to pick up and deliver boxes and
containers – or they are “looking” for a pick-up?
 How do material handling people know where to store material and how much?
 Is all material brought from the line used? or does some of it go back into storage?
 How heavy is the material being moved, can the movement be done with a less
expensive (lower capacity) lifts or material handling device?
 What is a process for removing empty containers and boxes from the line?
 Can we minimize the amount of packing material (boxes, containers, pallets)
brought to the production line?

Gemba Walks
Introduction
3. Unnecessary Inventory
Unnecessary inventory is raw materials,
work-in-process inventory and finished
goods in excess of the requirements
necessary to produce goods or service Just-
in-Time.

Gemba Walks
Introduction
3. Unnecessary Inventory

Gemba Walks
Introduction
Root Causes of Excess Inventory
 Lack of balance in a work flow - inventory build ups between processes
 Large batch production
 Long changeover times
 Failure to follow FIFO
 Producing “Just-in-Case” – unreliable equipment, incapable suppliers
 Production plans based on inaccurate forecasting rather than actual Customer
requirements
 Local optimization of inventory levels – inventory management responsibilities not
well defined
 Inventory standards not defined – Plan-for-Every-Part

Gemba Walks
Introduction
3. Unnecessary Inventory – Observations and Questions
 Are all boxes and containers stored in designated locations?
 Is there any material stored in isles, behind machines in “non-standard” locations
 Is there a lot of “hidden” material in the form of unorganized storage, is the
material stacked higher than eye levels?
 What size batches are raw materials brought in, how many days/months of
inventory is this? How can it be reduced?
 Is there any evidence of obsolete materials, where are they stored? How can
obsolescence be reduced? What is the date on the material is it close to expiry?
when will it be used?
 At the end of a production run, how much material is left in the holding bins, or is
still staged at the line?
 How big are the holding containers, do they match the size of the production
batches?

Gemba Walks
Introduction
4. Waiting
Waste of Waiting is any idle time while
waiting for parts, waiting for instructions or
waiting for machine to finish the cycle.

Gemba Walks
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4. Waiting

Gemba Walks
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Root Causes of Waste of Waiting
 Long equipment Changeover times
 Unplanned equipment downtime
 Lack of concerns for equipment breakdown
 Inconsistent work methods
 Unbalanced operations
 Poor flow of information – production plans and requirements
 Poor training

Gemba Walks
Introduction
4. Waste of Waiting – Observations and Questions
 Why do operators have to “watch” or wait on equipment? Waiting can often be
avoided - most machines do not have to be supervised
 Does the equipment stop automatically if abnormal conditions occur?
 What happens during an breakdown, what happens to the operators? Do they have
clear assignments or do they overproduce?
 What do operators do during changeover, are they active participants?
 Do operators have all the necessary skills, information, material and tools to
perform their job?
 Are there work instructions, how much variation in work pace is there between
operators?
 How are the jobs organized, who sets them, how do operators know what to do?
 Is there a clear process for the operator to call for help in case of problems?
 Do operators have plenty of time to socialize? Why?

Gemba Walks
Introduction
5. Unnecessary Processing
Unnecessary Processing is putting more into
the product or service than is valued by the
Customer – not required (needed) by the
Customer.
The goal is to perform manufacturing activities
or service to match what is useful and
necessary in the eyes of the Customer.

Gemba Walks
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5. Unnecessary Processing

Gemba Walks
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Root Causes of Unnecessary Processing
 Process bottlenecks
 Lack of clear customer specifications and requirements
 Lack of Customer input
 Lack of quality and engineering standards
 Redundant approvals
 Endless modifications and alternations
 Engineering changes without proper process changes
 new process added
 old process not removed
 Decision making at inappropriate levels

Gemba Walks
Introduction
5. Unnecessary Processing – Observations and Questions
 How much of the work being done is value added to the customer?
 How much paperwork is being generated? Is it necessary? How can it be reduced?
 Are all quality procedures and standards available and understood?
 Are operators encouraged to suggest improvements to their work? what happens
to their suggestions?
 Are there any manual processes that could be done by a machine, with reasonable
cost?
 Is there any duplication of processes?
 Is there any extra equipment around that is not in use, why is it there?
 Is there a good understanding of the cost of energy and programs in place to
reduce consumption?

Gemba Walks
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6. Correction
Correction includes unnecessary inspection,
repairs, rework, scrap and any additional
work performed on a products or service
caused by producing a defective product or
service in the first place.

Gemba Walks
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6. Correction

Gemba Walks
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Root Causes of Correction
 Incapable processes:
 Producing poor quality parts
 Producing scrap
 Excessive process variation
 Inadequate tools and equipment
 Poor layout
 Unnecessary material handling
 Incapable suppliers
 Insufficient training
 Stockpiling inventories

Gemba Walks
Introduction
6. Waste of Correction – Observations and Questions
 How do operators know when material is out of specification, what is the reaction
or countermeasure?
 How complicated are the processes? Are quality standards in place? Is there any
standard work? Is the standard work followed?
 What happens to defects and rejected products? Are the defective products
analyzed and root cause problem solving performed and by whom?
 Is there a dedicated area for scrap and defects, how many pieces are in this area?
How many hours worth is this? Is it the right amount? Can it be reduced?
 What kind of inspection is done on the line, what type of inspection is done off line-
how often? Is it necessary?
 Are there examples of bad parts with explanations of why they are bad?
 What happens to bad material, who is responsible and how is it handled?

Gemba Walks
Introduction
7. Unnecessary Motion
Unnecessary movement and operation of
people, parts and machines within the
process.
Any motion that does not add value to the
product or service.

Gemba Walks
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7. Unnecessary Motion

Gemba Walks
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Root Causes of Unnecessary Motion
 Poor work station layout – office layout
 Looking for tools or material
 Looking for equipment to move parts
 Excessive reaching and bending
 Parts and materials too far apart
 “Extra busy” movements while waiting – movement vs motion
 Lack of 5S
 Lack of Visual Controls
 Inconsistent work methods – lack of Standardized Work
 Operator training

Gemba Walks
Introduction
7. Unnecessary Motion – Observations and Questions
 Is there a lot of movement that is not adding value to the product, do people look
busy, but are not adding value to the product?
 Are operators engaged in searching for tools, papers, or materials?
 Are tools at the point of use, or are they at one central location?
 Are specialized tools at the point of use?
 Are a lot of people engaged in walking around?
 Is there a lot of pick and place, are operators tied to one machine because of this?
 Is the machine layout conducive to minimizing unnecessary motion and running
more than one operation at a time?

Gemba Walks
Introduction
Gemba – Teaching and Coaching
Process Audit

Gemba Walks
Introduction
Visual Management – Questions to ask
 Are all aspects of visual management on the shop floor operating as designed?
 Are they used to improve performance?
 Is continuous flow being maintained through the production process?
 Are items requiring updates, updated at the proper time?
 Does everything have a place to store? Is everything in it’s place? If not why not?
 Do these visuals make sense?
 How easy is it for you to grasp the current condition in the area by observing the visuals in
the area? If not what must change? Make sure it changes.
 Is all the above OK?
 If not, DO NOT walk by, STOP and DO SOMETHING about it.

Gemba Walks
Introduction
Information Boards – Questions to ask
 Are the information boards up-to-date?
 Are they update by the people in the area or by a Clerk? Ownership in the performance
results is key.
 Are the metrics relevant to the current are performance focus?
 Are the units of measure meaningful to the operators in the area
 Are the right metrics being tracked? The metrics tracked should reflect the Performance
that needs improvements in the specific area.
 Does the performance charts reflect trending information? Performance charts must
always give an indication of trend “are we getting better or are we getting worst”

Gemba Walks
Introduction
Standardized Work – Questions to ask
 Ask for a copy of Standardized Work and explain to the operator what you are doing.
 Observe if the operator is doing the work according to the documents in your hand.
 If you observe the operator doing the job differently wait for the cycle to finish
 If the operator is doing the work according to the Standardized Work thank him/her for
following standard work and ask them if there is anything you can do for them.
 If there are concerns that you observed in the area or with the work, make sure you inform
the area supervisor of the issue and ask for resolution.
 Remember that the purpose of Standardized Work is to:
 Ensure job consistency to allow for better problem solving
 Train new and returning operators
 Identify WASTE and concerns in the process and help to remove them.

Gemba Walks
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Quality - Questions to ask
 Is there a dedicated area for scrap, how many pieces are in this area? How many
hours worth is this? Is it the right amount? Can it be reduced?
 What happens to scrap products? Are the scrap products analyzed and root cause
problem solving performed and by who? Can you see evidence on the floor? If not
find out from the operators? Is the procedure for handling scrap clear? Is it used?
 Is there a Scrap performance tracking process? Is it showing the correct trend? Are
actions in place to improve the trend and reduce scrap?
 How do operators know when to handle the rejects? Are they reacting properly?
 What happens to bad material, who is responsible and how is it handled?
 Are operators concerned about scrap product, what rewards are in place to ensure
they produce good product, and manage rejects correctly?
 Are there any boundary samples or on-line inspection equipment, or do operators
make judgment calls? Are there examples of bad parts with explanations of why
they are bad?

Gemba Walks
Introduction
Daily/Hourly Tracking Boards – Questions to ask
 Are the boards updated by all shift?
 Can you see the previous shift information?
 Is there an hourly target and a shift target based on the current schedule?
 Are there clear targets for Change Over durations?
 Is the information written in each hourly slot relevant and detailed or is it too
general?
 Can you see that the supervisor is reviewing the board regularly?
 Are they getting the required response to the problems they are facing?
 Is it clear that the information tracked on the boards is being reviewed and reacted
to with appropriate urgency according to the trigger criteria established?
 Is the information recorded on the Hourly Tracking Boards captured for later
analysis?

Gemba Walks
Introduction
Performance Boards – Questions to ask
 Are the performance boards up-to-date?
 Are they update by the people in the area?
 Are the metrics relevant to the current are performance focus?
 Are the units of measure meaningful to the operators in the area? (i.e. OEE is
relevant to the plant manager and staff, Uptime or downtime, Change over
durations are more relevant to the operators)
 Are the right metrics being tracked?
 Does the performance charts reflect trending information?
 Do they track current month daily performance (updated by the operators) as well
the previous 12 month performance?

Gemba Walks
Introduction
Gemba Walk

Gemba Walks
Introduction
Changing the World. One Transformation at a time
This presentation is an intellectual property of W3 Group Canada Inc.
No parts of this document can be copied or reproduced
without written permission from:
Marek Piatkowski
W3 Group Canada Inc.
iPhone: 416-235-2631
Cell: 248-207-0416
Marek.Piatkowski@rogers.com
http://twi-network.com

Gemba Walks
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