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.
In the fall of 2009, I launched Gemba TalesTM in anticipation of the Kaizen Event Fieldbook. Truthfully, it was something that I was told authors do - “You need to have a blog to promote your book.”
Well, sort of.
Blogs, in my opinion, should emanate less from a marketing imperative and more from a sense of sharing and community. That’s a whole lot more fulfilling.
We’re all familiar with the Toyota Production System “house.” You know, the structure schematic with, among
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 hi
