What Is a Gemba Walk?
As per the records, “Gemba” is a Japanese word that means “the real place”.
- Go and see – The main goal of the Gemba walk is for leaders and managers to take regular shop-floor walks and to be involved in finding ways to improve the process.
- Ask Why – A Gemba walk involves exploring the processes in detail and locating its problematic parts through active communication. A leader who wants to improve is always eager to listen rather than talk.
- Respect People – Keep in mind that pointers fingers and blaming people are not the goal of Gemba walk. Managers aren’t there to judge and review results, and finding the process’s weak areas is the goal, not the people’s.
The Gemba Walk is a tool that anyone can use within an organization, but it is typically led by senior management. The walk aims to identify problems and find solutions for them. Gemba walks are a vital part of any Lean or Six Sigma initiative and can help organizations to improve their overall performance.
Why are Gemba Walks Important?
How to do a Gemba Walk?
- Plan: Decide what you want to observe and why. Make sure you have the right people with you who can answer your questions.
- Observe: Pay attention to everything around you and take notes on what you see. Ask employees questions about their work and try to understand their challenges.
- Analyze: Once you’ve gathered all of your information, it’s time to start analyzing it. Look for patterns and trends that can help you identify areas for improvement.
- Take Action: Based on your observations, decide what changes need to be made to improve the process. Implement these changes and track their impact over time.
How Long Should a Gemba Walk Take?
Ideally, a Gemba walk should take no more than one hour, allowing enough time to gather meaningful data and observations without disrupting workflow.
How Often Should You Do a Gemba Walk?
How to Do a Gemba Walk Effectively
1. Define the purpose of the walk
2. Involve the people who work in the process.
And they are the experts and will be able to provide valuable insights. Make sure to involve front-line employees as well as supervisors and managers.
3. Go slowly and take your time.
4. Ask questions and probe deeper.
5. Be open-minded and objective.
Gemba Walk Examples
- Observe the work being done.
- Talk to employees about their work.
- Look for ways to improve safety.
- Identify ways to improve quality.
- Look for ways to reduce waste.
- Improve the flow of work.
- Make suggestions for improvement.
- Follow up after the Gemba Walk to make sure improvements are made.
How to Digitize Gemba Walk?
If you’re looking for a solution to digitize the Gemba Walk operations, we have developed one app that can help.
Axonator for Quality Assurance and Quality Control
Explore Easy-to-use Gemba Walk Solutions to Digitize Your Shop Floor Observations
Why Axonator?
- World’s first mobile-focused & Highly customizable no-code architecture to support real-world scenarios.
- Deploy enterprise-grade solutions rapidly as per unique requirements
- Achieve Paperless quality audits and inspections
- Generate reports automatically and automated data collection for trends and analytics
- Streamline processes and implement a fully automated system within weeks using Axonator’s MicroApp strategy