Gemba Kaizen

““Gemba Kaizen”Gemba Kaizen”

Prepared by: Johnson Gitonga

April 2008

CONTINUOUS IMPROVEMENT AT WORK

1.0 Introduction:1.0 Introduction: The meaning of Kaizen is Continuous improvement. It implies improvement

that involves everyone, and entails little or no expense. It is generally accepted in Japan as a way of life, and many Japanese people

are not even aware that they possess it! When applied to the work place (gemba) it is referred to as Gemba Kaizen. Kaizen maintains that whatever you are doing, you can do better, and after

that, whatever you are doing, you can do better. Few activities in Kaizen require approval from senior management. They involve attention to details and commonsense. But put together, they

make big differences in companies. Kaizen is a way of life, a spirit, an attitude. With Kaizen in place, people not only do their jobs, but also learn ways of

improving it. In gemba, each process should be treated as a supplier to the next, and a

customer to the preceding process.

2.0 Terms of Reference:2.0 Terms of Reference:

AQL – Acceptable Quality Level A process : any step of activities in a specific area of gemba that involves the

usage of the five Ms of management. Ask Why (5 times) Gembutsu – tangible objects in gemba e.g. pieces, rejects, machines, parts etc. QCD – Quality, Cost and Delivery Five Ms – Manpower, Machines, Materials, Methods and Measurements. Five Ss – Seiri, Seiton, Seiso, Seiketsu and shitsuke. (sort, straighten, scrub,

systematize and standardize) Jidhoka – autonomation JIT (Just – In – Time) A system for bringing about the optimum QCD after

eliminating waste and delivering products or services in time as per customer requirement.

Muda - Waste Jishu Kanri – autonomous management where workers get involved in kaizen

activities as a result of guidance from the line supervisor. TQM – Total Quality Management

Terms of Reference Cont’d:Terms of Reference Cont’d:

Mura – means irregular: a very common type of waste because things are not happening as they should e.g. a vibrating machine, a slow middle operator in a chain etc

Apathy – a devil-may-care attitude usually exhibited by disgruntled or de-motivated shop floor workers.

Customer: – First meaning: “THE CUSTOMER IS THE NEXT PROCESS”– Second Meaning: The company’s clients.

3.0 MAJOR KAIZEN CONCEPTS:3.0 MAJOR KAIZEN CONCEPTS:

Kaizen and ManagementProcess versus ResultFollowing the PDCA and SDCA

cycles.Putting quality firstSpeaking with DataThe next process is the Customer

3.1 KAIZEN AND MANAGEMENT3.1 KAIZEN AND MANAGEMENT In the concept of Kaizen, management has two functions, namely

maintenance and improvement. Maintenance: activities directed towards maintaining current

technological, managerial and operating standards and upholding such standards through training and discipline

Improving: Elevating current standards. This can be done in two different ways:

– Innovation: where a drastic improvement arising from a large investment of resources is done in acquiring new technology and/or equipment.

– Kaizen: where small, multiple and well coordinated improvements happen as a result of ongoing efforts.

Kaizen emphasizes: – Human Efforts: All management functions should understand that it is only

through management of inclusion that Kaizen can work. The slogan is “There is always someone on the shop floor who is thinking about all problems, and there is someone on the floor also thinking about all solutions to all possible problems”

KAIZEN AND MANAGEMENT Cont’dKAIZEN AND MANAGEMENT Cont’d Morale:

– It is pointless to try to implement Kaizen to a gemba riddled with apathetic personnel.

– Therefore, all known factors of human resource management should be employed before Kaizen can be conceptualised. It is management’s fault if staff on the floor is apathetic, and not the other way round. Management should try and:

– Direct – Through PDCA. The Plan is the direction the staff is to take.– Organize – This is the guidance through procedures and standards, and

provision of tools to Do the work right, and also the training.– Control – Here, the emphasis is on Checking as events unfold, making

problems and irregularities (Mura) clearly visible, prioritising them, assisting to go to their original causes and killing them for good.

– Coordinate – when all processes are in progress, the management should ensure that all processes are in tandem. The weakest point in the line is the strongest the organisation can get, and it is management’s role to always try to find the weakest link and strengthen it. It is part of the Kaizen process.

Morale building is very important in goal realisation

KAIZEN AND MANAGEMENT Cont’dKAIZEN AND MANAGEMENT Cont’d

Communication: – The most powerful tool for management to understand and therefore guide

gemba is the flow of information. However, this information: Should be accurate Should be precise and to the point. Should be of good quality Should be adequate Should be given to the right people Should be made available at the right time Should allow enough elbow for positive criticism Should only demand for precise feedback Should never accommodate circumvention of the standardization process. Should be clearly categorized: e.g. FYIs, Instructions, Policies, suggestions etc. Should always strive to be in form of documentation eg general issues discussed

in meetings, observations done in records and audit reports etc, policies captured in promptly reviewed manuals etc.

Should always assume ignorance to receivers heretofore.


Training– There is nothing as frustrating and expensive as trying to use untrained

workers to carry out tasks that require a certain degree of skill.– Since management is accountable for QCD, using untrained labor is like

shooting oneself in the foot.– Kaizen assumes that management is aware of the importance of the training

prerequisite and how it can ease management from doing mundane tasks that could easily be done by others after training.

– Kaizen assumes also, that management is currently doing the relevant trainings and that this is documented, so that people can achieve Shitsuke (self discipline).

– Through training needs assessment, anyone can point to a problem that has cost the company money, and that could have been avoided had the right training been done to the responsible people.

– Management itself has to learn management skills as a prerequisite to maintaining the integrity of the Kaizen process.


Teamwork – Here, we talk about teams that work. Kaizen works only if people agree to

team up. These teams should have the following qualities: Mutual respect for all members’ capabilities Active efforts to show this respect as a morale building effort. Ability to objectively, openly and positively criticise each other. Ability to accommodate positive criticism among members. Ability to fully comprehend problems and irregularities in the processes, and to

make them visible during operations. Ability to find tangible solutions to these problems and irregularities. Ability to fully and accurately discuss problems with superiors, colleagues, and

subordinates. A clear leader who is not feared but respected and humble in the team Ability to sift possible solutions in line with AQL and QCD. Ability to voice discontent with unacceptable behavior at gemba, openly and in a

respectable manner. Ability to maintain consistency in collective and several behavior as part of the

Kaizen process I.e. Self discipline


Involvement:– This is the level at which senior management feels comfortable with sharing

information and involving middle management and the shop floor in decision making.

– Many companies learn rather painfully late that it is better to share information across the board, since this helps people to know just how much their decisions affect the bottom-line in the business.

– Again, everyone should always assume that “someone at gemba is always thinking about all problems, and someone is thinking about all solutions to all problems.”

– This makes it possible to remove strain (Muri) from any job function since all you have to do is subject the particular process to a brainstorm and pick the easiest way of doing it.

– Another effort here should be for all people to accept involvement when they are called on to do so. This helps to show mutual eagerness to remove strain at work.


Self discipline– This is one of the Five S’s of Gemba Kaizen discussed later.– It involves self reproach to do the right thing, first time and always.– People learn to completely understand standard behavior through understanding

of procedures.– They then pledge or vow to always behave that way in order to avoid Mura

(Irregularity)– They learn to criticise standard behavior with a view to always making life easier

without compromising the progress of Kaizen.– They learn to facilitate the change of this behavior through reviews of standards,

and the appropriate retraining of pertinent staff at gemba accordingly– People learn to ask “if what am suggesting is unacceptable to the rest, what

precise standard am I contravening, and is that standard adequate?”– People also agree to always acknowledge failure to systematize on their part when

under criticism, and promise to revert to standard behavior.

3.2 PROCESS VS RESULT:3.2 PROCESS VS RESULT:

A faulty process will result in failure to achieve expected results.

Kaizen fosters process-oriented thinking as opposed to results based thinking commonly practiced.

Management must identify and correct process based errors in order to achieve expected results in any process.

When introducing kaizen strategies, (i.e. TQM, QCD, JIT, PDCA/SDCA, there should always be a process oriented approach. This means that people must identify what the major processes in their operation are.

The most critical element in the implementation of Kaizen is senior management commitment and responsibility.

It must be demonstrated immediately and consistently to assure success of the Kaizen process.

3.2.1 The PDCA Cycle:3.2.1 The PDCA Cycle:

PDCA is followed during improvement activities in management while SDCA is followed during the maintenance activities of management.

The Plan-Do-Check-Act is the first step in the kaizen process. – Plan: Establish a target for improvement and the way to achieve

the required result after improvement– Do: Implement the plan– Check: Determine whether the implementation is still on track

and is on its course to bring about the desired improvement– Act: perform and standardize the new procedures to eliminate

reversal of the improvement process. In the beginning, any new gemba is unstable. Before

implementation of PDCA, any current process must be standardized in a process often referred to as the SCDA cycle…

3.2.2 The SDCA Cycle:3.2.2 The SDCA Cycle:

Every time an abnormality occurs in the current process, the following questions must be asked:

– Did it happen because we did not have a standard?– Did it happen because the standard was not followed?– Or was it because the standard was not adequate?

Only after standardization and stabilization of the process can we move on to PDCA

Thus, SDCA refers to maintenance of the status quo, and PDCA refers to the improvement of the status quo to establish a new and better one.

These two, i.e. maintenance and improvement are the primary responsibilities of management.

3.3 PUTTING QUALITY FIRST:3.3 PUTTING QUALITY FIRST:

In QCD, Quality should always be the highest priority. No matter how attractive the price and delivery terms are offered to

the customer, the company will not be able to compete if the product or service lacks quality.

Managers often face the temptation to make compromises in meeting delivery requirement or cutting costs.

In doing so, they risk the quality of what they do, and more importantly the life and destiny of the business as a whole.

The quality first credo is often used by many managerial panels as just a cosmetic promotional gimmick when speaking to customers.

This is usually based on a misconceived internal notion that what the customer is asking for in terms of quality is unrealistic.

This way of thinking always comes back to haunt the business in terms of reputation and generally the future.

3.4 SPEAKING WITH DATA:3.4 SPEAKING WITH DATA:

Kaizen is a problem solving process. In order to solve a problem, it must be understood.

In gemba, we understand problems if we collect relevant real time data and analyse it for specific indicators of either failure or success.

Most people collect a lot of data but find themselves with the following problems:

– A lot of unreliable measurements as a result of faulty manpower, methods and machines.

– Collecting the same data in the same process many times over– Copying raw data into other records– Failing to analyse data comprehensively– Failing to draw out corrective actions from well analysed data– Failing to follow the PDCA once areas of improvements have been

identified.

3.5 “The next process is the customer”:3.5 “The next process is the customer”:

All work is a series of processes, and each process has its supplier as well as its customer.

A material or piece of information provided by process A is received, worked on and improved in process B and then sent on to process C.

The next process should always be regarded to as the customer. The customers are thus internal processes or external e.g. clients. About 90 – 99% of workers deal with internal customers. This realization should naturally lead to a sworn commitment “NEVER to

pass on defective parts or inaccurate pieces of information to those in the next process”

A related commitment is to “NEVER accept defective products or pieces of information from those in the previous process”. This commitment sometimes needs senior management approval and analysis and personnel should not personalize these rejections.

Any realistic TQM system must hold that everyone in the organization practices this axiom.

4.0 MAJOR KAIZEN SYSTEMS4.0 MAJOR KAIZEN SYSTEMS

The following are the major Kaizen systems to be put in place in order to achieve a wholesome Kaizen strategy:

– Total Quality Management – TQM

– A Just-in-time Production System.

– Total Productive Maintenance

– Policy Deployment

– A comprehensive Suggestive system

– Small Group Activities.

4.1 Total Quality Management4.1 Total Quality Management

Total quality management means the involvement of everyone in the understanding, formulation and implementation of the position that the biggest tool for profitable business is management of quality.

This quality is basically the quality of business, broken down into all business processes that go towards meeting the expectations of all interested publics in a business.

The management’s responsibility in this is always to set up a plan to check the process against the result in order to improve the process.

Management should always desist from criticizing the process on the basis of the result thereof, but rather, on the integrity of the process itself.

TQM includes such activities as policy deployment, building quality assurance systems, standardization, training and education, cost management and quality circles.

4.2 The Just-In-Time Production System4.2 The Just-In-Time Production System

This is a Kaizen concept revolving around elimination of all non-value-adding activities of all kinds and achieving a lean production system flexible enough to accommodate fluctuations in customer orders. It is supported by such concepts as:

– Takt (Time) – the time it takes to produce one unit, – One piece flow,– Pull production, – U shaped cells– Jidhoka (autonomation)– Set up Reduction.

To realize the ideal JIT system, several kaizen activities must be carried out continuously to eliminate non-value-adding work in gemba.

JIT dramatically reduces costs, delivers the product in time and greatly enhances a company’s profits.

4.3 Total Productive Maintenance4.3 Total Productive Maintenance This is the process of improving the performance and quality of

equipment. It also involves everyone in the processing plant. The Five Ss of housekeeping act as indispensable preludes to TPM. TPM seeks to maximize equipment efficiency through a total system

of preventive maintenance throughout the life of the machine. Typically, people create maintenance schedules commensurate with

the machines or machine parts, which includes the type of maintenance to be done, who to do it and who to report to in case of problems

Management’s role is to ensure that workers create these schedules and stick by them.

Any Mura reported should be acted upon immediately to avoid disruption of the production process.

4.5 Policy Deployment4.5 Policy Deployment

Although Kaizen aims at improvement, its success can be undermined if there are no particular aims of its implementation.

These aims are in most cases in the form of long term strategies, broken down into medium term strategies and further into annual strategies.

Top management must have a plan to deploy strategy, passing it down through subsequent levels of management until it percolates to the shop floor.

As it cascades down, the strategy should include increasingly specific action plans and activities. – E.g. Policy: Reduce cost by 10% for the financial year 2008/09– Shop floor activity: Reduce inventory and rejects. Improve workspace house

keeping, increase productivity, report on time, reduce transportation, tighten intake procedures, tighten dispatch procedures, train people on team work, reward on team performance.

4.5 The Suggestion System and Quality Circles4.5 The Suggestion System and Quality Circles

This concept promotes the integral part of individual oriented kaizen. This is a morale boosting effort arising from positive employee

participation. Personnel is sparked into kaizen thinking by being empowered to

discuss tentative improvement activities with supervisors, doing pilot implementations of these improvements even before handing in suggestion forms.

Developing Kaizen mindedness and self discipline is the main goal of this concept.

The most unique deviation of this concept to western economic benefits motivation strategies is that employees get work satisfaction as a reward other than the expectation of remuneration.

Here, employees do not expect to reap great economic benefits as a result of their contributions.

4.6 The Ultimate Goal of Kaizen:4.6 The Ultimate Goal of Kaizen: Since Kaizen deals with improvement, we must know what part of a

business needs improvement, and the answer is QCD. Quality therefore will refer not only to the products or services but

to the processes that go into those products or services. Cost will refer to the overall cost of designing, producing, selling,

and servicing the product or service. Delivery means delivering the requested volume in time. When these three are met, customers are satisfied. These QCD activities bridge such functional departmental lines as

research and development, engineering, production, sales and after sale services. (Note QA as a department is not mentioned here)

It is top management’s responsibility to review the current position of the company’s QCD in the marketplace and to establish priorities for its QCD improvement policy.

5.0 GEMBA AND MANAGEMENT5.0 GEMBA AND MANAGEMENT Any business exists for the purposes of making profits. This is achieved in three main types of activities

– Developing– Producing– Selling.

Without these, no business can exist and they all happen at gemba. Therefore, gemba should be the site for all improvement and the source of all

information. The management must maintain a touch with the reality of gemba, in order to solve the problems that arise there (Genchi Genbutsu).

Management exists to help gemba do a better job by removing constraints as much as possible.

90% of the time, however, management regards gemba as a constant source of problems where things always go wrong.

GEMBA AND MANAGEMENT cont’d:GEMBA AND MANAGEMENT cont’d:

They therefore create Eiffel towers from where they laugh at gemba and fail to realize that it is them who have failed by failure to Support gemba.

In most companies, management leaves control and support of gemba to veteran supervisors.

They fail to realize that though key, the supervisors often lack the basic training to do the most important role: that of maintaining and improving standards and achieving QCD.

In order to maintain gemba at the top of all company operations, the workforce must be fired up to do their jobs, and the management must know that the onus of checking the performance and providing support and continuous improvement lies with them.

This is a two way process. Management of Control (upright triangle) and Management of Support (inverted Triangle)

GEMBA AND MANAGEMENT contd:GEMBA AND MANAGEMENT contd: Simple conditions thus exist for a gemba centred approach:

– Senior management must accept accountability for achieving QCD.– Gemba must be allowed enough elbow room for Kaizen.– Management must always strive to exhaustively document and agree to job

functions of all personnel key for QCD at Gemba.– Management should provide the targets for gemba to achieve but be accountable

for the outcome.– The standardization process is never compromised, but is versatile for improvmt– Gemba’s needs are more easily identified by the people working there.– Somebody on the line is always thinking about all kinds of problems and

solutions (Hence the suggestion concept)– Resistance to change is minimized and continual adjustments become possible.– Solutions based on reality can be obtained.– Solutions emphasize low cost and common sense approaches.– People begin to enjoy kaizen and are readily inspired.– Kaizen awareness and work efficiency can be achieved simultaneously.– Workers can think about Kaizen while working.– It is not always necessary to gain upper management approval in order to effect

changes.

6.0 Standardisation, 6.0 Standardisation, MudaMuda elimination and Five Ss: elimination and Five Ss: In order to realize QCD, a company must manage various resources

efficiently on a daily basis. These include manpower, information, equipment, monitoring methods and materials.

Daily Management of resources require standards. These can be in the following form, but not restricted to:– Train and prove proficiency before deployment, – Calibrate regularly, – Keep accurate records, – Follow customer specification while producing, – Analyse strictly to standard when receiving items, – Analyse strictly to standard when rejecting nonconforming items,– Encourage employees to systematize behavior to standards – Analyse to standard when dispatching product to customers, etc.– Standardize information flow, work plans and complain resolutions– Respect prerequisites for good performance and advancement of kaizen (6.1.6)

6.1 Five Ss of good housekeeping:6.1 Five Ss of good housekeeping:

The Five S’s refer to the Japanese terms that constitute housekeeping. A Kaizen expert does not need a lot of time to know the performance

of a company if he is allowed to assess the Five Ss and muda elimination. In the Five S’s, we Have:

Seiri: Distinguish between necessary and unnecessary items in gemba and discard the latter.

Seiton: Arrange everything that remains after seiri in an orderly manner.

Seiso: Keep machines and working environments very clean. Seiketsu: Extend Seiso to yourself and practise seiri, seiton and seiso. Shitsuke: Build self discipline and make a habit of practising Five S’s

by establishing standards.

6.1.1 Seiri (Sort)6.1.1 Seiri (Sort) In seiri the first step is to categorize items in gemba into:

– Necessary: Maintain them and move to Seiton.– Unnecessary: Discard them immediately.

In gemba where Five S’s are not implemented, 60 – 75% of items are unnecessary.

An easy rule of thumb is to remove things that will not be used in, say, thirty days, a week, etc.

Things that have no intrinsic value should be thrown away. Things that will be needed in future but in excess of agreed time

should be removed from gemba to the warehouse etc until the time comes.

Surpluses should be returned to the process that created them. Red tag campaigns often leave employees with questions like the

following:

6.1.2 Seiri contd:6.1.2 Seiri contd:

– How could we act so foolishly to have all this gembutsu lying around?– How much money is tied up in rolling inventories?– Why are we producing WIP for which we have no immediate need?– What kind of information are our procurement people using when buying?– How is the supervisor raising his requisitions for stickers and boxes?

Implementing Seiri:– Select a team and train it on the Five S’s of Gemba Kaizen.– Select a specific site of gemba.– Give the team a handful of red tags to place on things they think are not

necessary. The larger the tags and the greater the number, the better.– If it is unclear whether an item is needed, a tag should be placed on it.– Complete an inventory of all unnecessary gembutsu.– Discard as appropriate.– Proceed to Seiton with all necessary gembutsu.

6.1.2 Seiton (straighten)6.1.2 Seiton (straighten)::

This step means arranging all necessary items in gemba in such manner as to minimize search time and effort at the time of need.

In gemba, all areas should be designated as addresses, and all necessary items should have a particular address, name and volume.

Quarantine areas should be easily identifiable in gemba for nonconforming parts or machines.

Work line arrangements should be determined by the foremen and supervisors and maintained.

Hallways should be left clear because they are meant for transit.

WIP quantities should have limits before it is collected and put to the next process

6.1.3 Seiso (Scrub)6.1.3 Seiso (Scrub)::

This means cleaning surfaces, machines and tools. There is an axiom that goes “Seiso is checking” during

cleaning, it is easy to see defaults in whatever is being cleaned and therefore institute TPM.

Most machine breakdowns occur due to:– Vibrations as a result of or resulting in loose nuts and bolts.– Introduction of foreign particles (e.g. food fragments in pipes)– Inadequate oiling and greasing.

For this reason, seiso is a learning experience for operators since they can make important discoveries while cleaning.

Seiso is complementary to seiton in the sense that one is now capable of seeing what is wrong with what is needed.

6.1.4 Seiketsu (Systematize)6.1.4 Seiketsu (Systematize)::

This is a look to the inwards of oneself where:– You keep clean by: wearing proper PPE, maintaining a clean

healthy working environment etc.– You continuously and consistently work on Seiri, Seiton and

Seiso.

Management should provide support of, be involved in, and determine how often Seiri, Seiton and Seiso should take place. This can take the form of schedules, which can be periodical but spread within a year.

As such, procedures need be deployed that together achieve the three as a management systematisation exercise.

This is the only way to do Kaizen continuously and consistently.

6.1.5 Shitsuke (Standardize)6.1.5 Shitsuke (Standardize):: This means self discipline. People who achieve seiri, seiton, seiso and seiketsu will

ultimately find it easy to achieve shitsuke. In order to standardize, people must realize that

practising kaizen once is very easy. Continuing to do it calls for a lot of self discipline of all the people involved.

No one should feel exempt from the Five S’s in a gemba environment if the concept is to take root.

In fact, people should be in a position to feel they are letting the other members of the gemba team down by not practicing the Five S’s.

6.1.6 Prerequisites to the Five – S effort:6.1.6 Prerequisites to the Five – S effort:

Create clean, sanitary, pleasant and safe working environments

Revitalize gemba by improving morale and motivation.

Eliminate muda by eliminating the need to search for tools, making operators jobs easier, reducing physical workloads and freeing up space.

6.1.7 Benefits of 5S in gemba:6.1.7 Benefits of 5S in gemba: Helps employees acquire self discipline. Employees can then be trusted to

adhere to standards and assurance is guaranteed. Highlights the many kinds of muda in gemba. Recognizing problems is the first

step to eliminate waste. Pin pointing abnormalities, such as rejects and inventory surplus. Reducing muri and wasteful motion, such as walking, retrieving tools etc. Allowing problems associated with shortage of materials, line imbalances,

machine breakdowns, and delivery delays to be identified visually and hence solved.

Resolving outstanding logistical problems in gemba in a simple manner. Making quality problems visible. Improving work efficiency and reducing cost of operation. Cutting down on incidences and accidents and concentrating more on

predictive and preventative engineering of the processes. Having both understood and made certain that these concepts are understood by

employees, management can go ahead with the Kaizen project.

7.0 Muda:7.0 Muda: In Japan, any non – value adding activity or tangible thing is classified as

muda, a.k.a waste. The pioneer of Muda Elimination, i.e. Taiichi Ohno classified muda into seven

main categories:

– Muda of over production– Muda of inventory– Muda of repair/rejects– Muda of motion– Muda of processing– Muda of waiting– Muda of transport

7.1 Muda of overproduction:7.1 Muda of overproduction:

This is most commonly a function of the mentality of the line supervisor, who is worried about such issues as absenteeism, rejects, machine failure, order fluctuation etc.

When an expensive machine is involved, the number of products is often disregarded in favour of efficient utilization of the machine.

The possible dangers of overproduction are as follows:– Consumption of raw materials before they are needed.– Wasteful input of manpower and other resources– Additions of machinery– Additional requirements for space to store products and

inventories– Added transportation and administrative costs etc

This is the worst type of muda

7.2 Reasons for Muda of overproduction:7.2 Reasons for Muda of overproduction:

Usually, this muda comes from the following invalid assumptions or policies:– Produce as fast as we can, disregarded the supply needs of the next process– Give the operator enough prerogative to produce– Let each process or line have an interest in raising its own productivity– Speed up the go-straight ratio (completed products without reworks) because of

line failures.– Allow machines to produce more than needed because they have the capacity– Introduce expensive machines since they cannot be depreciated unless the

operation ratio is improved.

7.3 Muda of Inventory:7.3 Muda of Inventory: Final products, work in progress or parts and supplies kept in

inventory do not add any value. They add to the cost of operation by occupying space and by requiring

additional inputs such as cold rooms, warehouses and administrative personnel.

In addition, their quality deteriorates over time. Even worse, they could be destroyed by a fire or storm. If muda of inventory did not exist, much losses could be avoided. Inventory is a result of overproduction of some process or other. Inventory always masks the opportunities that Gemba gets for

implementation of Kaizen. If you have enough inventory, you do not worry too much about

machine down times, absenteeism, lack of morale, quality or administrative costs.

When inventory level goes down and finally reaches the one piece flow, Kaizen is mandatory for continued performance.

7.4 Muda of Repair/Rejects:7.4 Muda of Repair/Rejects:

Rejects interrupt production and require expensive rework. Rejects require expensive disposal. Rejects can damage expensive machines. Before a machine is identified to be faulty, it can have spewed untold

defective products. By assigning workers to stop malfunctioning machines, we defeat the

reason of having the machines in the first place. Detection of malfunction should therefore be automated (Jidhoka).

Too much paper work is muda of repair/rejects. It can be eliminated by elimination of red tape, streamlining operations, eliminating unnecessary processes, and speeding up processing decision making time.

Process re-engineering often requires expensive reworks. If during design all the processes are considered before production starts, wastage can be eliminated.

7.5 Muda of motion:7.5 Muda of motion: Any motion of a person’s body not directly related to value addition is

wasteful. When walking, for instance, we do not add any value. In addition, any motion involving lifting or carrying heavy objects

should be avoided because not only is it strenuous and dangerous, but it also represents muda of motion.

Usually, value adding motions of human bodies constitute less than 10% of the total motions they make during production. – A mechanical engineer might reach out behind him, pick up a hammer with the

left hand, transfer to the right hand, hammer once, transfer hammer to the left hand, reach back out and place hammer. Only the hammering is important.

Gemba arrangement and rearrangement is necessary to minimize the muda of human motion.

7.6 Muda of processing:7.6 Muda of processing:

Sometimes inadequate technology or design leads to muda in processing work itself.

Repetition of label information in many labels of a product, using work in progress crates, having a work in progress cold room, weighing work in progress, trying to achieve more than necessary degrees of quality e.g. over grading, using highly trained people to do mundane operations etc are all muda of processing.

Usually, this muda can be eliminated by using common sense things like:– Synchronizing and combining operations– Just in time processing– Understanding optimum quality expectations.– Use adequately qualified personnel for different tasks– Deploy personnel based on levels of competence.– Remove storage of in-process materials to ensure completion of production.

7.7 Muda of Waiting:7.7 Muda of Waiting:

Happens when:– The operator’s hands/legs are idle. This usually happens because:

There is a breakdown in the previous or subsequent process, Lack of parts or inputs for current process, The operator has been producing defective product or during machine

down time. The operator is seeking an explanation of why he/she is receiving a

defective item for processing. There is an accumulation of what the operator has been producing and

no more working space. The operator is simply observing a machine doing value adding work. The machine the operator was using has broken down. The tools the operator has to use are defective and they are being

addressed eg knives are being sharpened. This muda is easy to detect. What is difficult to detect is for example when an operator is waiting

during machine processing or assembly when (s)he is just observing the machine waiting for the next work piece to process.

7.8 Muda of Transport:7.8 Muda of Transport:

Transport is very important in operations, but it does not add value. Even worse, damage occurs during transport. Usually, any two

consecutive processes require transport. In order to eliminate this muda, “isolated islands”, any processes

physically distant from the main line should be incorporated into the line if possible.

Together with needless waiting and inventory wastage, muda of transport is a highly visible form of waste.

The biggest proponent of this waste is conveyor belts. They are only a necessary evil if they have to be there, but if they are unnecessary, they are better off donated to the competition.

By creating a table for waste assessment and correction, one can help gemba teams identify and eliminate muda in all aspects of operation.

7.9 Muda Vs Mura and Muri:7.9 Muda Vs Mura and Muri: Mura means irregularities while Muri means strain. The two are forms of muda and they represent the presence of

problems. If anything is irregular or strenuous, it should be avoided or better,

PCDA should be implemented if it is necessary to remove irregularity and strain.

Irregularity is best demonstrated in a line where people working in line and depending on each other for continuity are working slow because the slowest of all of them is either at the beginning or in the middle of the chain.

Strain is best shown by a new operator being told to do the work of a veteran worker, hence creating stress for him, making him work slow and opening opportunities for mistakes, a.k.a muda.

Of all Kaizen activities, muda elimination is the easiest to start, since it more often than not involves stopping to do something we have been doing up until now. Most of the time, muda elimination costs nothing to implement.

8.0 Visual Management:8.0 Visual Management: Only two conditions apply at gemba. Either the processes are under

control or they are out of control. The first principle of visual management is to make problems

visible. If abnormalities cannot be detected, no one can manage the process. The best thing that can happen in a manufacturing company when

abnormalities occurs is to stop production. Ohno states that a production line that never stops is either perfect (impossible of course) or extremely bad.

The second principle of visual management is to help both workers and supervisors stay in touch with the reality of gemba.

Problems should be highlighted when they arise, and everyone involved in gemba from management downwards should be able to know immediately so as to initiate corrective action and prevent recurrence.

8.1 Visual Management and the 5 Ms:8.1 Visual Management and the 5 Ms:

Manpower (Operators):– How is worker morale? Can be measured by the number of suggestions made,

the extent of participation in quality circles, figures on absenteeism.– What is their skill level? A display board or a training matrix and filed

certificates can show.– How do you know they are doing it right? Standards that show the right way to

do the job, is well understood, and records are not reporting abnormalities on assessment of their input.

Machines:– Jidhoka (autonomation for detecting problems) and poka-yoke (fail-safe)

devices can help know the performance of machines.– Lubrication levels, levels of lubrication exchange and types of lubricants.– Metal housing should be replaced where possible with transparent housing so

operators can see malfunctions as they happen.

Materials:– Do you have the right quality of materials? More than you need? Materials that

you cannot trace? Sourcing from acceptable sources for the next process? etc

Visual Management and the 5 Ms contd…:Visual Management and the 5 Ms contd…: Methods:

– How does your supervisor know that people are doing their jobs well?– Possibly by well understood and clear worksheets, cycle times, safety items,

quality checkpoints, and clearly understood instructions of what to do when variability occurs.

Measurements:– How do you check whether the process is running smoothly?– How do you know, after a PCDA cycle, whether improvements have been

achieved?– How do you find out whether precision equipment is properly gauged e.g.

weighing scales, thermometers and hygrometers?– Trend charts should help in monitoring performance across gemba to visualize

problems and hence initiate corrective action.

Exercise: try discussing Visual management in the concept of the five S’s of housekeeping.

9.0 MAKING ORGANIZATIONAL CHANGES:9.0 MAKING ORGANIZATIONAL CHANGES: An ideal way of implementing Gemba Kaizen is to look at how to realign the

control levels in an organization. This is usually accompanied by a realistic culture change that must be embraced at all levels of the company.

This can be done by: Creation of Business units:

– Make every function of business easily available in adequate levels of competence to all levels of management, especially the shop floor.

– Make “profit” or “loss” reports and “credit noting” and “Debit Noting” a culture, based on the activities of these business units and therefore challenge them on why performance is loosing or how to better performance using Gemba Kaizen.

Organizational Delayering:– Removal of many layers of detached and impersonal management levels immediately

gives the shop floor people impetus and improved spheres of influence.– This often leads to reduction or total elimination of apathy in the lower echelons as

people realize they are actually making tangible contact with strategic behavior, and therefore productivity improves.

– People also feel that their efforts are more likely to be attributed directly to them by the movers and shakers of the establishment, and so strive to make these efforts positive ones.

MAKING ORGANIZATIONAL CHANGES contd:MAKING ORGANIZATIONAL CHANGES contd:

Building effective systems:– The generally accepted systems need to be looked at and challenged

constantly for effectiveness and ease of implementation.– By allowing the implementers to challenge the rules by which their

performance will be gauged, standardization becomes owned way down the management chain and reliability of results of processes is the result.

– Systems should have clear requirements, clear policies, clear procedures to implement the policies and clear specific work instructions in that order as one moves from senior management down to the shop floor. This is the importance of standardization.

– This should be supported by clear prerequisite programs as supports to implementation e.g. training, support services e.g. engineering and maintenance, Five S’s, effective communication, muda elimination, etc.

Encouraging employee initiative: this brings about– Independent information gathering. Emphasis on independent.– Ownership of both the problems and their solutions by the workforce.– Quantifiable conclusions which give an indication of importance of issues.

MAKING ORGANIZATIONAL CHANGES contd:MAKING ORGANIZATIONAL CHANGES contd: The involvement of all members of staff strives to:

– Persuade all employees that change is inevitable– That it is mutually beneficial.– That they have to own the process

The following stages are important– Presentation and communication of the program– Needs assessments through in-depth interviews and discussions– Identification of priorities and satisfaction– Analysis: drawing up a hierarchical picture of needs, priorities, and targets– Feedback of data to employee groups– Diagnosis: moving employee groups into problem solving mode.

Recognizing a job well done:– The main objective behind suggestion plans should be to get people to

make suggestions. This sounds silly but it is very sound in reality.– Success should be measured by the number of times employees thought

positively, imaginatively and constructively about the company.

MAKING ORGANIZATIONAL CHANGES contd:MAKING ORGANIZATIONAL CHANGES contd: Managers learn to:

– Greet employees at the start of the shift.– Use first names.– Get to know the whole person and not only the work characteristics.– Know that monetary gains in culture changes demean the process of

change.– Initiate things like companies “hall of fame”, “employee of the Month”,

“team of the Year”, “Hero of the year” etc.– Make sure that all facets of gemba kaizen are looked at when determining

recognition parameters.– Ensure that all those who have not got the recognition are pretty well

aware why, and are allowed to freely talk about the nature of the whole process of recognition and where they erred in achieving it.

– Always encourage team work as a way of self elevation on the part of employees in realizing gemba kaizen.

– That apathy amongst their charges are most of the time the managers’ fault, as a result of, amongst other things, compromising standardized behavior and failing to recognize achievements.

– That the best remedy for removing this apathy is to practice seiketsu before recommending it to their charges.

10.0 (COMPANY X) PROBLEM ANALYSIS:10.0 (COMPANY X) PROBLEM ANALYSIS:

In company X, an exports company, a gap exists between the intentions of senior management and the actual direction the company seems to take.

The senior management knows this, and has tried to communicate to the middle management to come up with ways of improving the destiny of the company.

The middle management does not seem to realize that any problem exists and therefore does not see any need for change.

The senior management therefore comes up with the idea of hiring a gemba kaizen specialist to look for ways of improving the company.

In the next slides, we are taken through the Route the expert takes, examples of possible findings and solutions until we understand how many companies stand in the Kaizen culture.

10.1 Problem analysis:10.1 Problem analysis:

The MD brings the expert into the organization, ensures that he is introduced to the middle management and the idea of what needs to be done is raised.

The expert starts by asking them what their problems in the day to day running of the company is:

Marketing Manager: getting the orders done and loaded on time, and reduction of customer complains.

Production Manager: Traceability issues, quality of incoming materials, Managing staff and labor cost reduction and communication from marketing on planning.

Commercial Manager: Managing company items with suppliers, product costing and inventory management in the company, inventories balancing for packaging.

Accounting Clerk: Preparing wage sheets on time, raw material reconciliation and paying farmers on time.

MD: self discipline among all workers in reporting times, cost consciousness in the company, getting analysed data instead of pieces of raw meaningless data collected from various functions in the organisation, waste reduction, accountability.

OPTION A: Identification of the Gemba Processes:OPTION A: Identification of the Gemba Processes:

The expert goes to the first principles of Gemba Kaizen. He asks the people to identify the processes that are pertinent to their company:– Agronomy– Agronomy to Packhouse Interface (Intake and feedback)– Packhouse inventory– Packhouse Stocks issuance– Packhouse processing– Packhouse to exports interface (Dispatch and Positive Release)– Exports– Client feedback– Record keeping– Reports and data analysis– Hygiene


He explains these other processes as possible in the company:– Pest control– Communication– Traceability– Training– Document Control– Supplier approval and

monitoring– Certifications– Glass Audits– Assets auditing and

management

– Transport– Grading– Packing– Weighing– Sealing and Overwrapping– Calibrations– Box forming and sealing– Hand washing– Knife sanitization– Packhouse cleaning


Marketing Manager: Been requesting that packhouse should increase packing efficiencies to load

materials on time. The expert follows the five why policy and asks the production manager why that is not possible, and he says that most are the times when he wants to pack ahead and therefore be ready on shipping times but he has no raw material.

Further, he says that the marketing manager is responsible for planning for the days orders and in times of shortage of raw material, the marketing manager has been taking so long to give him loading priorities and sometimes he has to rework products to honour the priority loadings (Discuss standardization and muda of waiting).

On further inquiry, the expert learns that the marketing manager is responsible for asking for the raw material from the farm. (Discuss just-in-time delivery, “the next process is the customer”, Visual Management on methods etc )

About customer complains, the marketing manager says that the packhouse should provide quality, but the production manager counters that if he does not receive bad quality from the farms in the first place, he would not pack bad quality. (Discuss standardization at reception of materials, and “the next process is the customer”)

Problem Analysis cont’d:Problem Analysis cont’d: Production Manager:

The production dept. gets weekly orders but on a day to day basis is struggling to get the priority loading from marketing. A typical question: “ We received 1.5 tons only against a requirement of 2.5 tons. What order should we do first?” A typical answer “You know very well that every order is a priority!” (discuss Muri, Muda of processing, muda of waiting). Typical Question. “These materials are not good for grading according to our intake assessment guide. What do we do?” Typical answer “You know we are short of materials with the current rains. Take them and grade them as much as you can!” (Discuss muda of wastes/rejects, muda of transport, muda of waiting, morale creation and boosting, Muri and Mura)

The PM says that he is loosing reliable staff to other exporters. He says that this could be due to pay rates, but the admin manager says that what they are paying is comparable. ( Discuss apathy, “talk with data”, team working, involvement and planning

On Traceability: The production Manager says that after getting different batches into the coldroom for the same produce, he is unable to ensure that no end product will have mixed batches. On enquiry, he says that the people do not seem equipped to separate the batches, and that sometimes the time is too tight because of closeness to loading times for supervisors and shop floor workers to worry about traceability. (Discuss PDCA and SDCA), Discuss the Five S’s of Kaizen, QCD, “The next process is the customer”).

On communication: the production manager says that he does not seem to get the information about the worksheets for the day on time, and when he is late, the marketing manager does not seem to understand that it was him in the first place who delayed the worksheets or the priority loadings. (Discuss Quality of information, morale boosting, Mura, Muri and muda of waiting and “Gemba and Management”)

Problem Analysis cont’d:Problem Analysis cont’d: Commercial Manager:

– Product Costing: Question: How do I know whether I am going to make or lose money with every batch I receive? Answer. By standardizing input prices, Five Ms and input quality, and making quick decisions wherever Mura rears its head.

– I seem to be loosing packaging materials at the packaging store, and even crates when I do audits:

Standardize receiving procedures Standardize issuing procedures Train operators in the inventory areas To check gembutsu at warehouses and at gemba. Address the muda of inventory. Train data entry personnel on the auditing procedures so that they are always self auditing. Train people on the way to deal with Mura

Problem Analysis cont’d:Problem Analysis cont’d: The accounts clerk has problems with:

– Getting the Wage sheets prepared, and counterchecked in times for payments:– Raw Material Reconciliation and farmers payments

Our expert identifies a lack of a system for data entry that computes the workers entry and exit times, their job functions and rates and therefore the computation of their wages.

He also notices that there is no system existing to do computations of mass balances and bring the contractual agreements between the companies and the farmers to the equation and immediately get the reconciliation and therefore the pending balance computed.

This, the accounts clerk explains, is because the production manager delays the rejects and packed products figures from the packhouse. Seiketsu is discussed.

The production manager says that he needs a record to fill all products as they are being packed to be recorded by batch and ensure timely data entry, and also another record for feeding the rejects. These will be given to the clerk to ensure that delay of data does not happen again.

Problem Analysis cont’d:Problem Analysis cont’d: The MD has Problems with:

– Self discipline with regard to reporting times– Getting data that is not analysed.– Cost Consciousness

On asking the team, our expert identifies a lack of understanding of company goals, performance indicators of the processes and personnel, and, as seen in the problem analysis heretofore, a confrontational approach to interdepartmental issues.

Based on the premise that senior management holds the key to team building and reduction of apathy, there seems to be the need for the MD to have an actual participation in challenge and change management in the organisation without alienating some of the team members.

It has to be understood that some management functions seem closer here to senior management than others.

The production manager is prone to feel more of a shop floor supervisor than a senior manager, and therefore frustration must be addressed when senior management involvement is involved.

The MD should be able to elicit debate, get people to talk freely and raise all issues without alienating anyone or making people fail to raise pertinent issues for fear of a yoyo effect.

Gemba Kaizen

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