Power of Gemba.
“It exists this way because you walk by it every day and say nothing- you allow it.”
I knew about Gemba. It means “actual place.” Gemba walks are meant to take problem-solving to where the value is created, which in manufacturing, is at the line. I participated in Gemba walks in my corporate life but I didn’t truly understand it’s power until I worked with a client last winter.
It was the morning of the first day of my contract with this client. I was there to overhaul their operational training program. I was not there on a lean mission. The VP of Operations, who hired me for the job, offered to walk me through the process. He started at the end of the process and explained their product and customers.
He took a narrow set of steps onto a catwalk, where he slipped and nearly fell. He looked over his shoulder and smiled with a “whoops.” I thought maybe he caught the step wrong until I stepped onto the grating and slipped myself. I noted it but pushed the thought aside because I didn’t want to miss his explanation.
We walked across the dark, hot catwalk into the next phase of the process where we stepped down into what I can only describe as a “hot mess.” I politely asked about the scrap material stacked up all around. “Is it normally like this or are they changing over?” He responded, “Well, it’s actually pretty common.” I nodded; another note filed away.
He walked a bit further and we passed an employee at the line without safety glasses. He said nothing. My notes are starting to stack up. A few more steps and I noticed this wasn’t just scrap but gloves, face masks, and pop bottles all piling in walkways, swept into corners and under workstations.
I stopped him. “Can I ask you to tell me what you see?”
He sighed and didn’t answer. I said, “Look, I’m here to help you- not judge you. Tell me what you see.”
He squirmed a bit. The man that entered the plant was warm and confident, that faded. With a long breath, he said “I know, it’s bad. We just can’t get them to keep up with it.”
I looked around and decided that this was a hill of garbage I was willing to die on and shot back; “This didn’t start today. It exists this way because you walk by it every day and say nothing- you allow it.”
His eyes flashed with anger and his cheeks started to red. But what he said next surprised me.
“You’re right.”
And because I was already pushing my luck, I said; “It ends today.”
With another long breath and a head nod he said, “Okay.”
That day, we accomplished two things. First, we got the supervisors, managers and employees together and we cleaned the line. All the garbage disposed of, catwalks mopped, scrap dispositioned, tools and consumables back in their homes.
Next, we sat down and wrote a Gemba Walk Checklist. We focused on waste in scrap, quality errors, and safety near misses. We scheduled the walk twice a week with required attendance by the VP of Operations, Production Manager, Safety Manager, Supervisor, Trainer and Production Employees.
Gemba is meant to look for and teach about waste. We walked the line, from start to finish, talking with the employees about their productivity, scrap rates, and quality concerns. And we learned:
New hires were quitting because they were made to clean up that mess. If they lasted for more than two weeks cleaning, then they would be allowed to start learning the job for which they were hired. Cleaning the mess and maintaining the clean environment reduced turnover by 5% in the first month.
A major quality error was corrected because an operator provided the missing link to the cause of the problem. Scrap reduced by 15%
The supervisors were accessible and because they were spending more time on the line, they were addressing poor habits that developed around PPE and GMP compliance.
Productivity increased by 10% in the first month with no machine optimization or training implementation.
When making no other effort than to show up in the process regularly, all of their metrics improved. Gemba works.
When the process was suffering- the leaders were hiding out. In their absence and without support readily available, the employees in their charge gave up. Nobody cared about them- so they stopped caring. The leadership team was trying to fix the productivity and turnover problem from a conference room which was a good effort executed in the wrong location.
Gemba reminds us that like fruit on a vine, value lives and dies at the line.
I am not smarter than anyone else and I do not have I have some kind of special capability that others don’t possess. I am of average intelligence and physical ability. My gift is in that I am willing to say the things that leaders don’t want to hear. In my own story- my most important professional triumphs were initiated because someone told me something I didn’t want to hear. As a consultant, I don’t always get my feedback delivery right. I aim to be candid but kind. Looking back, I was on target with candid but came up short in kindness with this man. I too am a work of continuous improvement and I am willing to get it wrong in the pursuit of getting it right.