Gemba Walk Checklist

Posted on August 16, 2011 by Vivek Naik

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Here is a version of Gemba walk check checklist that we used initially when we started with gemba walk. It has helped us to align our efforts to help the flow of products. For this to work you would need following data collection in place for each workstation:

Hourly production (Target and actual)
Reasons for not meeting production targets
Reason why you have WIP in the area
Rework and rejection count
Reasons for rework and rejection
Corrective Actions
Task assignment and due dates

With operators trained to update the data and identify reasons that interrupt flow, we could use following questions:

Gemba Walk Checklist:

Was the production target met?
If the target was not met what was the reason?
Is there any WIP?
Reason why WIP is there?
Was there Rework and/or Rejection?
What was the reason for Rework and Rejection?
Was corrective action put in place?
Are there any overdue action items?
What are the reasons for overdue items?
Improvement questions/ tasks assignments?

For each process and company this may vary and it will change too based on where you are 0n the lean transformation Journey. I would love to hear what others use and their thoughts.

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Stand-Up Workstation : After 2 Weeks

Posted on April 28, 2011 by Vivek Naik

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There has been some progress with stand-up workstation experiment. I have added few components that I manage on the wall next to the station. Above the worstation is the Mission and Key Performance Indicators for the Operations department. On the left side are three section for Product Request, Issues, and Projects. Each section has incoming items (lower level) which are waiting review and Active items (upper level). Right above each section is the Standard Operating procedure (under development). This helps in visually managing the activities I need to do(any paper waiting in the lower level is activity due).On the right side is the area allocated to track Metrics like Quality, Order Delivery, Cost, Productivity and Safety.

I am already feeling lot more productive at the end of the day than before. Standing up usually gets things done lot faster, maybe because you are more alert than in sitting position. At this point there are lot more things to be done, like how to visually manage leader standard work. Other things I want to add is visual tool to deploy/ manage strategies.

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Gemba Walk: Mangement by Walking Around (MBWA)

Posted on August 7, 2010 by Vivek Naik

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What is a Gemba Walk?

Gemba walk , in simple words is a form of “Management by Walking Around” (MBWA). This is a very powerful tool as it is based on the fundamental principles of lean known as the ” 3G’s of lean ” as listed below. Gemba walk provides a first-hand unpolluted information about your Processes, Products and People.

3 G’s of Lean

Gemba – “The actual place”. This a place of actual work where the value is created

Gembutsu – “The thing”. Products or things which we are interested to improve.

Genjitsu – “The facts”. The real facts that are happening at the place of interest

I like to call Gemba walk as Management by walking around because it allows you to do just that. A 15 minutes Gemba walk has proved to be more effective in resolving flow interrupters for delivery than having hour long status meetings far away in the comfort of the office with unreliable data. When you are out there on the Gemba looking at the actual process, products and people responsible for them, there is no doubt about anything , no one can fabricate false information, you can interact with the process owner to resolve problems more quickly. This also helps all the Line Managers to align their priorities to solve problems for more efficient flow of the products through the value stream.

Few things to keep in mind to make this a successful tool:

- Have a clear theme and agenda for the walk

- prepare a list of questions to ask

- Setup a display board for each workstation which help process owner to answer question you will be asking

- Have the top-most management do Gemba walk along with you at least during the initial phase, that way everyone know that we are serious about improvement

- Be disciplined never miss the gemba walk

- Make sure resources are made available to resolve issues discovered during the walk

- make sure the account abilities are clear and everyone responsible completes their task

Gemba walk will be a good management tool as long as you use it properly. It can be used to serve various purposes. I will share more about my experiences in later posts. Till then if you have any questions or you need to know anything in particular about its implementation and application…. just leave a comment below.

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Lean Management – Driving force of Lean Transformation

Posted on November 15, 2009 by Vivek Naik

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How many times have you successfully implemented change using lean tools only to realize, after few weeks or months, that the manager and other people have either reverted back to the old methods or have found ways to circumvent the newly established methods.

We learned the hard way that lean transformation cannot be supported and sustained with traditional management system

Most of the times traditional management is results driven and may not focus on the process. Thus there is no inherent motivation for the manager to improve the process. Also when lean tools are applied this type of management does not provide a sustainable system to integrate, improve and sustain changes with daily feedback to realign to solve problems as they arise.

The “Lean Management” provides the framework to drive the lean culture. As identified by David Mann in his book “Creating Lean Culture“, there are 4 elements that makeup the Lean Management:

1. Leader Standard Work

2. Daily Accountability

3. Visual Controls

4. Discipline

Leader Standard Work sustains the systems integrates the changes made during the transformation process. Visual Control and Daily Accountability helps keep the process and people aligned to solve problems as they arise. The Discipline of the leader ensures that standard work is followed and the whole system works coherently.

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Leader Standard Work

Posted on May 7, 2009 by Vivek Naik

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After almost a year after writing the job descriptions we realised it was not sufficient to manage process as our shop floor evolved with lean implementation. It just did not provide the information of what needs to be done and when on day to day basis. Effectiveness at a particular job was more dependant on that person and his qualities. Also there was no link between changing processes on the floor and what we need to change in our own schedule to ensure the sustainability of the lean systems.

After reading about Leader Standard Work (Creating Lean Culture ) thought this would definitely be worth a try.

Now how do we implement this? first thing to do was to record what we actually do on everyday hour by hour and identify Daily, Weekly , Monthly, Quarterly tasks. We decided to record our tasks for one week and then meet to check how we can setup our standard work. Everything was smooth till we met, that is when I realised that the way I collected was not very efficient to use. It was not a mojor isssue had to manually write the standard work for everyone and then verify from evryone that is what they intended to do. I would suggest to use a template of Leader Standard work which best suits your process. Distribute a blank template to all the people to collect the data and develop the Standard Work. I am providing an example just to give you an idea of what can be used.

LSW Template

This is just the first phase of implementation where with two goals :

1. Identifying what we are doing right now

2. Getting our team acquainted with the process of developing and using leader standard work

Second phase would be to identify what needs to be done to sustain what we have accomplished and incorporate that in to our Standard work.