The name "Gemba Tales" is borrowed from Mark Hamel's two Shingo Prize-winning books, Kaizen Event Fieldbook and Lean Math within which there are dozens of tales. Each tale is based upon the experienced (some successful, some not) of the author and other lean practitioners and shared for the purpose of providing insight into the application of certain lean concepts. The purpose of this blog is really no different, just a bigger community for sharing and learning.
I was recently working in Indonesia at one of the largest pulp and paper mills in the world. One evening we were invited to the company's continuous improvement awards ceremony.
On a quarterly basis they recognize kaizen teams that have excelled.
I see the same cycle in so many places.
What cycle?
This one, more or less:
Step 1. Altruistic leaders sincerely (?) ask the associates for their improvement ideas (a.k.a. suggestions, kaizens, CI’s, etc.) in an attempt to foment some daily kaizen.
Step 2. Associates (not all of them), somewhat skeptically, call leadership’s bluff and submit their ideas.
Labels, lines, and shadows have little personality. Their job is largely around identification, location, and quantity.
Visual performance metrics provide insight into the health of a process or value stream by comparing actual performance versus target within the context of people, quality, delivery, and cost.
Andons are dynamic in nature. They visually (and often audibly) signal abnormal conditions and trigger problem-solving...or at least, most immediately, problem containment.
We've all heard the flight attendant's compulsory safety announcement regarding oxygen masks.
In many ways, visual controls are a 24/7 mirror of leadership’s competency and credibility.
To borrow a phrase that was borrowed by Pope Benedict XVI for his (in)famo
Last month, I teamed up with Gemba Academy's Ron Pereira and presented a two-part webinar on the subject of
This question is typically posed in response to a question that is deemed a bit nosey. It’s actually more of a statement. Along the lines of, “Mind you own business!” But, for the purpose of this post, it really is a question - one of, and for, the lean leader’s self-reflection. What truly is the purpose of the questions that we ask? Granted that we must always consider the particular situation, the intent of our questions says a lot about our own lean leadership effectiveness.
