As Part of a Business Transformation and Enterprise Excellence strategy, how can the methodologies & tools of Operational Excellence be integrated into Business Strategy?
A foundational Operational Excellence approach was highlighted in a 16MAY18 BPM article around 6 key methodologies … Visual Management, Gemba Walks, 5s, Value Stream Maps, Standard Work, & Kaizen Process Improvement Actions. Visual Management was covered in that article.1Today’s discussion will be around the powerful engagement & empowerment methodology of Gemba Walks.
Tell me more about Gemba Walks
As one of the Foundational methodologies, Gemba Walks are a key skillset for Leadership to leverage. The words of Toyota Chairman Fujio Cho, "Go see, ask why, show respect" are now famous as basic lean principles and are critical to keep in mind during a Gemba Walk2:
By definition, a Gembais the “place where value is created”. A Gemba Walk gets Leadership out of the office and conference room and down to the areas where the workforce produces that value.
“Gemba walks can actually serve a range of useful purposes:
Gemba can be also used to confirm quality processes—especially in the quality control (QC) lab but also for some quality assurance (QA) activities, such as batch review and release and in-process control. Gemba Walks should be an essential ingredient of any quality management system (QMS).”3
A Gemba Walk is well structured - prior to going to an area, the leaders identify specific goals to achieve or problems to better understand- making Gemba a powerful technique in driving the critical business areas of Safety & Compliance. 4
What are the basics behind a Gemba Walk?
Via Gemba Walks … The currency of leadership is presence.
For a thorough Leadership Guide see “How to do a Gemba Walk” by Michael Bremer.5
How can Gemba Walks drive the next levels of improvements by Process Leadership?
So what are the main features for a successful Gemba Walk?
Most solutions to problems lie with the employees. Treat them properly and they are very willing and happy to share them – they just need to be asked.6
A Gemba Walk reinforces Leadership commitment, opens up the communications, and provides a way to reinforce a company’s mission – vision – values and engage the whole workforce to deliver a Business Transformation and Enterprise Excellence strategy.
Look for future articles on Enterprise Excellence Business Process Management as well as deployment strategies as shown below:
References:
1. “Visual Management in Enterprise Excellence Deployment” , 16MAY19 BPMInstitute.org article http://www.bpminstitute.org/resources/articles/visual-management-enterprise-excellence-deployment
2. “How To Go To The Gemba: Go see, Ask Why, Show Respect”by John Shook, Lean Enterprise Institute article : https://www.lean.org/shook/DisplayObject.cfm?o=1843
Gemba Walks, Expanded 2ndEdition by Jim Womack, ISBN-13:978-1934109380, ISBN-10:193410938X
3. “Bringing quality closer to operations: The power of Gemba Walks” by Julie Rose, Paul Rutten, Vanya Telpis of McKenzie & Company from the book “Flawless … “From Measuring Failure to Building Quality Robustness in Pharma”:https://www.mckinsey.com/~/media/mckinsey/dotcom/client_service/operations/pdfs/flawless_from_measuring_failure_to_building_quality_robustness_in_pharma_intro_chapter.ashx
4. Safety & Compliance via Gemba Walks … “Lean Safety Gemba Walks: A Methodology for Workforce Engagement and Culture Change”,Robert B. Hafey, Productivity Press, Published November 24, 2014, ISBN 9781482258981 - CAT# K24162 https://www.crcpress.com/Lean-Safety-Gemba-Walks-A-Methodology-for-Workforce-Engagement-and-Culture/Hafey/p/book/9781482258981
The Gemba Safety Walk by Dave Collins, https://safetyrisk.net/the-gemba-safety-walk/
“Safety through Gemba”by Brian Fitzpatrick, https://www.lean.org/LeanPost/Posting.cfm?LeanPostId=436
5. “How To Do A Gemba Walk, A Leaders Guide” by Michael S Bremer, Copyright @ The Cumberland Group
6. “Why Compliance Professionals Need To Go to the Gemba” by Craig Thornton, https://www.mangolive.com/blog-mango/compliance-professionals-going-to-the-gemba-lean
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