The formula for Gemba Kaizen is Quality, Cost, and Delivery (QCD). Management focus on QCD leads towards increased profits and higher customer satisfaction. Gemba means the place where products or services are formed. QCD helps employees voice problems in processes involving developing, producing, and selling of a product and service; all business practice includes these three major activities. When management focuses on gemba or the workplace, they discover opportunities for making the company far more successful and profitable. Let the data speak for itself.

Gemba is the place where customers come into contact with the products and services offered. 1. Gemba is the source of all information. 2. Management must be in close contact with Gemba to solve problems that arise 3. Management becomes more effective at two-way communication between the worker: communication of expectations, communication that instills a sense of mission and pride, and communication that facilitates good housekeeping and self-discipline. 4. Management deploys and manages policy, they provide leadership, they identify targets, they set priorities, and they allocate resources and money. The Five golden of Gemba are: 1. when a problem arises, go to gemba first. 2. Check the relevant objects first. 3. Take temporary countermeasures on the spot. 4. find the root cause (5 whys) 5. Standardize to prevent occurrence.

Kaizen can improve quality, reduce cost considerably and meet customer delivery requirements without any significant investment or introduction of new technology. Making problems visible is a part of Kaizen. Kaizen is based on pull from the customer. Visual management reveals defects in the process that require immediate resolution. Imai says that Western analyst have attribute too much credit too quality circles as the means of improving quality.

Kaizen works for the obvious reason: the problem becomes obvious and visual. If a problem cannot be detected, nobody can manage the process. The process that creates the product stops the moment a reject is produced. The machine stoppage makes the problem visible. Visual management makes abnormalities visible to all employees, managers, supervisors, and workers – so corrective action can begin at once. Most information originating from gemba goes through many managerial layers before reaching top management. When gemba is practiced a manager can see problems at a glance the moment at the gemba. The best thing that can happen in gemba is for the line to stop when an abnormality is detected.

The 5Ss can be managed from the perspective of visual management. Seiri – discard unnecessary things. When you walk through gemba, do you find unused work-in-process, supplies, machines, tools, dies, shelves, carts, containers, documents, or personal belongings that are not in use? Throw them away so that only what is needed remains. Seiton – put in order the things that remain. Everything in gemba must be in its right place and ready for use when needed. Sieso – thorough cleaning of equipment and the area. Can you detect abnormalities in the equipment? Seiketsu – keeping oneself clean and working on three items above daily. Shitsuke – self-discipline. Has management established standards for the employees? Do workers follow the standards? The workers must record data on graphs and check sheets on an hourly, daily, or weekly basis as requested. Good housekeeping means pleasing other people as the means to please oneself. Good housekeeping improves human relations and increases communication with others. 15 minutes of cleaning changes feelings about the work place and builds pride in the company. Good housekeeping teaches the worker to improve himself, understand other peoples problems, gain an affection towards tangible objects (machines he operates), and improve family life.

Waste is not a virtue. Taiichi Ohno asked his workers this question, “May I ask you to do at least one hour’s worth of work every day?” and surprised the workers seemed bewildered. Ohno rephrased the question, “Will you do your value –added work for at least one hour a day?” Ohno recognized the tremendous waste (muda) that existed in Gemba. Muda refers to any activity that does not add value: overproduction, excess inventory, repairs/rejects, motion, processing, waiting, and transport. Overproduction is a function of the mentality of the line supervisor, who feels compelled to produce more than necessary just to be on the safe side. This type of waste results from getting ahead of the production schedule. Excess inventory does not add any value. Rather, excess inventory adds to the cost of operations by occupying space and by requiring additional equipment and facilities such as warehouses. When inventory level are high, nobody gets serious enough to deal with problems like quality, machine downtime, and absenteeism, and thus an opportunity for Kaizen is lost. Rejects interrupt production and require expensive rework. High-speed automated machine can spew out a large number of defectives before the problem is arrested.