Feb 10 2015
How to Do a Gemba Walk | Michael Bremer | Slideshare
“A ‘how to’ outline for executives trying to do an effective Gemba Walk”
Source: www.slideshare.net
No disagreement with what Michael Bremer is saying, but I would emphasize observation skills more.
One exercise Kei Abe came up with is the bug hunt. You take a team of managers to the floor and give each one 20 red tags. They they have 20 minutes to attach the tags to such “bugs” as frayed cables, devices held with duct tape, puddles of lubricant, misplaced items, etc. They usually have no trouble using all 20 tags.
I also ask people to be like the Count in Sesame Street and count people walking, machines not working, etc. These activities have a data collection and validation value in their own right, but they also focus the eyes of participants and make them notice details they would otherwise miss.
See on Scoop.it – lean manufacturing
February 10, 2015 @ 1:57 pm
What is as important as what you do when you walk the floor, is the attitude you take with you. Whoever you meet you must see as your equal (toilet cleaner or managing director), and a fellow team member working to make the company successful and our jobs secure. This is practising one of the key elements missing from many TPS/lean programs, RESPECT. Wearing the same clothing is one of the easiest ways to send this message. —
With the correct visual management system* in place, part of which will have the main deployed goals and Kaizen activities on display, the issues for comment and discussion should be obvious to anybody walking ‘in’ the area. Don’t walk ‘by,’ walk ‘in’. We must remember that it is our Gemba people’s activities that are earning all our wages. Our job is to support them in those activities. —
Managers must remember that their feet are one of the most effective communication devices they have. Where they place them tells people what and where they think is important. Let it be your feet not your bottom that sends the message. One of the most effective management techniques I know is OBOF. Off Bottom Onto Feet. I have met some managers who don’t think they need legs to do their job. ‘Cobblers’ can now have a new meaning at work. Let’s keep them busy. —
Happy and respectful walking ‘in’.—
* Over the last three decades I have found the following rules should guide our visual control activities.— There are 5 main elements of our productive activities; Manpower, Methods, Machinery/systems, Materials (Quality and quantity) and Measures. Visual control is to make visible in the workplace for each of the 5 M’s — What has to be done — How it has to be done — What is actually happening. We must make it easy to see any abnormality.