How do you integrate Gemba and Genchi Genbutsu with other lean management tools and methods?

At our railway depot, Gemba and Genchi Genbutsu principles have led to significant improvements. Through Gemba walks, we identified and resolved a bottleneck in the maintenance workflow, reducing wagon waiting times for wheel inspections. Genchi Genbutsu allowed us to address safety concerns hands-on, resulting in the acquisition of ergonomically designed equipment for safer handling of heavy components. These initiatives not only enhanced efficiency and safety but also demonstrated our commitment to valuing employee input and wellbeing.

Both 5S and Kaizen emphasize the importance of being on the shop floor—observing issues, examining trials, and finding solutions firsthand. It's something that cannot be effectively done from an office desk. The success of nearly all lean tools is greatly influenced by the amount of time spent on the shop floor.

I′ve a favorite phrase, this: ¨You can't improve something you don't understand, and to understand, you have to observe, and to observe, you have to go where the process is, from start to finish", go through it, over and over again, on different days, at different times. The more you walk through the process and understand how the product or service is generated, the better it will be and you will be able to integrate it with visual tools such as Kanban, Kata, JIT, 5S, Poka-Yoke, Andon, etc., which will be the way we can visually manage improvement. I hope my contribution is useful.

One of the best ways I saw is an organization that had performance objectives around the gemba walks. Supervisors were required to perform one gemba walk with an employee every week, managers every month, directors every quarter and VPs every year. This created relationships between employees and management, coached people in identifying waste and safety issues and created collaborations. Once the gemba walks were done, the management team needed to document them in a digital format in which the issues were indicated. Then the supervisors needed to review the issues and determine what was the next priorities to work on. It was a great method for engaging everyone and move improvements forward.

Envolva as pessoas: Quem faz, sabe; quem escuta, aprende. "Se você n?o vê, você n?o entende. Vá ao gemba!" Disso se trata: empoderar as pessoas. Lembremos que Gemba significa “caminhe pelo lugar onde as coisas acontecem”.

Ou?a quem executa. A solu??o come?a lá. Tenha humildade e curiosidade. Nenhum diploma tem mais criatividade e o poder de inovar um processo, do que a pessoa que o desempenha. "Pessoas engajadas, resultados transformados".

Si vous voulez que les personnes que vous dirigez vous accordent assez de confiance pour vous faire part d’informations précieuses dont vous pourrez vous servir pour résoudre le problème, vous devez d’abord les traiter avec respect. Vous ne devez pas utiliser le Gemba Walk pour évaluer les performances ou pour rejeter la faute sur quelqu’un d’autre. Une routine de Gemba Walk bien exécutée donne aux membres des équipes terrain le sentiment que leur manager les priorise. La preuve?: il investit plusieurs heures chaque jour à réaliser des tournées de supervision active pour être présent et disponible pour eux.

"Aprender é o trabalho. Melhorar é o resultado". O gemba e genchi genbutsu quando se tornam disciplina, tem o poder transformador de gerar resultados constantes, pela verdadeira cultura da melhoria continua.

La tournée de terrain est un moment planifié à intervalles réguliers au cours de la journée de travail. Les employés savent que leur superviseur passera les voir, par exemple, à 8 h, 11 h et 14 h et que ces quelques minutes leur sont réservées pour faire l’état de la situation, poser des questions au besoin et porter à sa connaissance les enjeux qui ont un impact sur leur travail afin de les résoudre.

Le gemba walk est un moment planifié à intervalles réguliers au cours de la journée de travail. Les employés savent que leur superviseur passera les voir, par exemple, à 8 h, 11 h et 14 h et que ces quelques minutes leur sont réservées pour faire l’état de la situation, poser des questions au besoin et porter à sa connaissance les enjeux qui ont un impact sur leur travail afin de les résoudre.

Le Gemba et le Genchi Genbutsu sont bien plus que de simples outils dans le monde du Lean Management. Ce sont des philosophies fondamentales qui guident les pratiques des managers et des équipes vers l'excellence opérationnelle. Plut?t que de les voir comme des outils distincts, il est crucial de les intégrer harmonieusement avec d'autres méthodes et outils de lean management pour maximiser leur efficacité.

O envolvimento humano e desenvolvimento de pessoas, trazem uma perspectiva prática, focada na experiência cotidiana de quem faz e realmente está por dentro dos detalhes dos processos. "Se você n?o vê, você n?o entende. Vá ao gemba!"