What's on a Gemba Walk Checklist?

A Gemba Walk is an essential tool for any business looking to improve their processes. It involves walking through the shop floor, or the Gemba, to observe and identify opportunities for improvement. To ensure you are getting the most out of your Gemba Walks, it is important to create a Gemba Walk Checklist. This checklist should include the areas to

What is Lean Gemba? Maximizing efficiency in manufacturing

Lean Gemba is an approach to manufacturing and production that seeks to maximize efficiency. It combines two Japanese words: "lean" which refers to reducing waste, and "gemba" which refers to the physical production site. Lean Gemba focuses on eliminating non-value-adding steps from the production process, minimizing materials used, and optimizing the use of resources in order to produce the highest

Why are Gemba Boards important?

A Gemba Board is a visual tool used to monitor the progress of projects, tasks, and goals. It is an essential part of the Lean Six Sigma methodology, allowing teams to focus on the important details and ensure objectives are achieved in an efficient and timely manner. By providing an organized overview of all the activities taking place within a

How can I optimize my company's processes with Gemba Kaizen?

Gemba Kaizen is a powerful tool that can help businesses optimize their processes, reduce waste, and increase efficiency. It is a combination of two Japanese words, Gemba and Kaizen, which are both related to "improvement". The goal of Gemba Kaizen is to make continuous improvements by identifying inefficiencies and then finding ways to eliminate them. By utilizing this method, businesses

What are some Real-Life examples of Gemba Walks?

A Gemba Walk involves observing all processes across a business to learn from the employees carrying out different duties, identifying potential opportunities for improvement. Being a staple continuous improvement methodology when implemented well, businesses should be utilizing its power to improve efficiency, quality, and employee satisfaction across their organization. In this article, we share some of the best Gemba Walk

Can Gemba be used for safety?

When learning about Gemba, much of the focus is on process and procedure improvement. This is obviously very important as it will help to ensure things are done in the best possible way, which eliminates waste and maximizes profits for the company. People often ask whether Gemba walks can also be used to improve safety. To put it simply, absolutely!

What is Gemba Kaizen?

You may have heard of the Gemba walk, and the strategies behind it. And you may have heard of Kaizen and its ability to facility continuous improvement of a facility. But have you heard of Gemba Kaizen? This is a great strategy where a company takes advantage of Gemba walks and related activities to help push forward continuous improvement. This

Why should I use Gemba?

Gemba walks have become increasingly popular over the past generation, which has led many more people to look into this interesting system. Many people wonder why it should be used, and what makes it better than something like ‘management by walking around’ or even just spending time on the shop floor. There are many reasons why a company should use

How often should Gemba walks take place?

Once you learn about Gemba walks and how beneficial they can be, you may begin to wonder how often they should be performed. If they are done too infrequently, you won’t be able to take advantage of the benefits that they can provide. If you do Gemba walks too frequently, however, they can begin to lose meaning and you will

Who should go on a Gemba walk?

Gemba walks are a great way to learn more about specific areas of the workplace, come up with improvement ideas, increase safety, and much more. There are many different people in a facility that can, and should, go on this type of walk. Depending on the role that a person has with the company, they will be able to get

What questions should I ask on a Gemba walk?

Asking questions of the people who you see on a Gemba walk is one of the best and most important ways to get the information you need. There are times, however, when it can be difficult to come up with the right questions. The following are good questions that will help you to get started with any Gemba walk. Remember,

What is a Gemba walk used for?

Gemba walks have been growing in popularity over the past several decades, and today they are used in just about every industry imaginable. A Gemba walk is still most popular in the manufacturing industry, but the same concepts can be used in almost an environment, including outside of the workplace. When starting to learn about Gemba walks, it is often

How can I conduct a Gemba walk?

Gemba walks are a great way for management and other leaders in a company to get a first hand look at how things are done, and to come up with new ideas or solutions to problems. A real Gemba walk, however, is more than just getting out of the office and walking around the facility. Learning to do this type

How can I implement Gemba walks?

If you have recently learned about Gemba walks, you may be wondering how to best implement them into your workplace. One of the many nice things about this workplace improvement strategy is that it is extremely easy to perform. It is also very flexible so it can be modified to meet the particular needs of a given department or facility.

What is the origin of Gemba?

The concepts behind Gemba were first developed in Japan. In Japanese, the word Gemba means ‘the actual place,’ and is used in a variety of situations. The police often call a crime scene the Gemba, and news reporters may say that they are checking in live from the Gemba. When it comes to workplace improvement, Gemba is the place where

What is a Gemba walk?

Workplace improvement is an important responsibility for managers, executives, safety professionals, and others in the facility. Whether working on coming up with new ideas for improvement, or working on how to implement ideas, people often end up talking about the issues far more than taking action. To help solve this problem, many companies use a strategy known as a Gemba

What does Gemba mean?

Gemba is a Japanese term that translates to ‘the real place.’ When used in the context of workplace improvement or increased efficiency, the Gemba is the place where actual work is done. For example, in a factory setting, the Gemba would be where the machines and other equipment are putting together the products. It is often referred to as ‘the

How is Gemba related to Lean manufacturing?

The goal of Lean manufacturing is to minimize the amount of waste that is produced within a facility. This would apply to any type of waste including wasted time, energy, excess pieces or parts, and much more. Gemba is a process where managers go out to the shop floor to analyze how things are done, and how they can be

How does Gemba solve problems?

The Gemba concepts are a great way to encourage managers to get out to the places where they manage and learn more about how things are done. If it isn’t used specifically to identify and solve problems, however, there would be little difference between Gemba and the concepts of ‘management by walking around.’ Fortunately, Gemba does have a bigger focus

When should Gemba walks be conducted?

The term Gemba is translated as, “the real place,” which indicates that a Gemba walk should be conducted in the areas where the actual work is being done. This is a pretty broad area, however, and it doesn’t explain how these walks should be coordinated to ensure you get the best results possible. The specific areas where one should go

What is a Gemba event?

Gemba walks would be a big waste of time if you never took any action based on the information and ideas that were gathered. After a walk is completed, you will want to plan Gemba events that will make use of this information. Gemba events can also be called Kaizen events if your facility is using the Kaizen methodology. In

How is 5S related to Gemba?

5S and Gemba are technically two different strategies that are used by businesses to make improvements. 5S is generally focused on waste reduction and elimination, and Gemba is more of a strategy to gather information that can be used to make improvements in the facility. While they don’t initially seem to have too much in common, they are actually related

What are tools to use in the Gemba process?

When most people think about Gemba, they start by looking at Gemba walks. While that is the main activity that is being done, you will need to have quite a few different tools in place to help ensure it goes smoothly. There are also tools that are used to help track and use the information and ideas that are found

What is a Gemba board?

A Gemba board is one type of tool that is used when attempting to keep track of the current status of the workplace. It is a visual management tool that helps you to be able to see the status of a variety of different types of tasks at a glance. Opening Communication One of the biggest benefits of using a Gemba board

Gemba Questions and Answers

Gemba

Gemba is a Japanese term that translates to “the actual place.” Gemba walks are an exceptional Lean tool that require a manager or designated employee to physically walk around an area and look for places that could use improvement. By being present, the employer or manager will gain a better understanding of what is happening in the facility and then has the power to make necessary changes.

Topics covered:
Any company that wants to implement continuous improvement goals uses Gemba walks as a starting point. Managers can effectively improve efficiency, safety, and production across the board with this tool. Because of that, we are here to help you understand how you can use Gemba walks to improve your own facility. Some of the topics we explore include:

The goals of Gemba walks: Gemba walks can be performed as much as once a week and may have a different goal every time. The person performing the walk can have goals such as improving safety or finding production problems, and more.
How to conduct a Gemba walk: Here we will discuss the steps that a manager must go through to complete a Gemba walk. Having structure is important during this activity otherwise you could just end up chatting with employees rather than finding problems.
Incorporating other Lean manufacturing methods: Performing Gemba walks is great for any facility, but using more than one Lean manufacturing method will open up new roads to understanding what could be improved.

Help us help you in understanding the world of Gemba by reading up on how to improve your facility!