By: Ghouse PashaGEMBA KAIZEN Vadinee Taylor GEMBA KAIZEN Kaizen means continuous improvement. The word implies improvement that involves everyone —both managers and workers—and entails relatively little expense. Gemba is a Japanese word meaning 'real place,' where the real action takes place. In business, Gemba is the ‘shopfloor’ or ‘production place’ where the value-adding activities to satisfy the customer are carried out. Kaizen when carried out correctly: Humanization of workplace Eliminates overly hard work Scientific method approach to perform experiment on the work How to learn to spot and eliminate waste in business processes The format for kaizen can be individual, suggestion system (Management Oriented), small group, or large group. A process of continuously Going to the workplace (where problem/abnormality is) Identifying the problem and it's root causes Reducing and eliminating muda (waste), mura (inconsistency) and muri (strain) Solving the problem or improving the situation Key elements of Gemba kaizen are quality, effort, involvement of all employees, willingness to change, and communication. Many managers learn about the problems happened in gemba from a report that reaches them several weeks after. This is the first and most important principle. The solution is to go to gemba at once when you hear that a problem has happened. go to gemba first. . When a trouble (abnormality) happens.5-GEMBA PRINCIPLES 1. . If a machine is down.2. the customer is gembutsu. If a customer is complaining. CHECK WITH GEMBUTSU : MACHINE. if the machine is down. go to gemba and have a good look at the machine. TOOLS. For example. means some tangible things on which you can put your hands. REJECTS Gembutsu¸ another Japanese. the machine itself is gembutsu. and asking the question ‘why’ (several times) you can probably find out the reason for breakdown on the spot. For instance. But these are only temporary measures and do not address the real issue. you will need to apologize. which leads to the next point. . If a customer is angry. Sometimes you kick the machine to get it started. or even give some gift to appease. you have to get it started because the show must go on. TAKE COUNTERMEASURES ON THE SPOT.3. if the machine is down. 4. . you can find out the root cause of the problem. FIND OUT THE ROOT CAUSE. By repeating the question “why” several times. .5. and come up with a countermeasure. Once you identify the root cause. STANDARDIZE FOR PREVENTION OF RECURRENCE. you should standardize such a countermeasure so that the same problem will not recur. today’s managers often try to apply sophisticated tools and technologies to deal with problems that can be solved with a commonsense.GEMBA KAIZEN .LOW COST APPROACH In order to solve problems found in gemba. low-cost approach. . They need to unlearn the habit of trying ever-more sophisticated technologies to solve everyday problems. .LOW COST APPROACH Gemba KAIZEN There are two approaches to problems solving.GEMBA KAIZEN . The first involves innovation – applying the latest high-cost technology. such as state-of-the art computers and other tools. checklists. The second uses commonsense tools. kaizen can achieve significant improvement as an essential building block that prepares the company for truly rewarding accomplishments. and investing a great deal of money. This approach is called kaizen. and techniques that do not cost much money. Muda elimination. . 2. Standardization. 3.THREE GROUND RULES FOR PRACTICING KAIZEN IN GEMBA: 3 ground rules for practicing Kaizen in Gemba are: 1. Housekeeping. Through good housekeeping. . HOUSEKEEPING Housekeeping is an indispensable ingredient of good management. Employees without self-disciplines make it difficult to provide products or services of good quality to the customer.1. employees acquire and practice self-discipline. MUDA ELIMINATION In Japanese. . such as machines and materials.2. Any activity that does not add value is muda. the word muda means waste. This is also true for other resources. People in gemba either add value or do not add value. Muda elimination can be the most cost-effective way of improving productivity and reducing operating costs. such as handling and keeping in stock. If you produce more than your customer needs. you can eliminate muda of inventory altogether. you have extra pieces that need to be taken care of. Waste of motion – When the operator is moving around. . Waste of waiting – How often do you see operators just waiting for the material to arrive or the machine to start? No value is added when operators are waiting and looking. If you process only Produces what the next process needs. Waste of inventory – This is the result of over production. looking for tools or going to get the work pieces.TYPES OF WASTE Waste of over production – This is regarded as the worst type of waste. no value is added. or on the conveyer. a big muda.TYPES OF WASTE Waste of transportation – When materials are moving on the trucks. Waste of producing rejects – Producing rejects leads to rework. forklifts. no value is added. Waste of processing – By rearranging the working sequence. . often you can eliminate a particular process. or else rejects must be thrown away. Products may be defined as the best way to do the of services are created as a result of a series of processes. . Certain standard must be maintained at each process in order to assure quality.3. Standards also can prevent recurrence of the same problem. STANDARDIZATION The third ground rule of kaizen practices in gemba is standardization. Standards job. These high jump improvements are incorporated in the new practices/systems/processes. There is a high jump in improvements. Then. Lots of advantages of innovation disappear or are lost. During this lull period and in absence of daily management or continuous improvements through kaizen or gemba kaizen etc. Therefore. daily improvements. quality circles etc is in fact a management imperative. This is where daily management through continuous improvements comes in. there may be a lull. after one innovation/breakthrough. gemba kaizen. It insists on daily performance and also. daily management and daily improvements through kaizen. It keeps on maintaining and further improving the processes. You cannot do without it (you may occasionally do without an innovation/breakthrough). The fall or degradation of processes is now just not possible. And the processes become inefficient/ineffective.Innovations/Breakthroughs and Daily Continuous Improvements Through Gemba Kaizen Innovations/breakthroughs are brought about in any organization occasionally or intermittently. It may not be as stunning or exciting as an innovation. these dramatically improved processes start degrading or deteriorating. yet. . effective daily management and daily improvements are the foundation on which maximization of advantages due to innovation and company viability firmly stay. GEMBA KAIZEN PRACTICES IN INDIAN COMPANIES . India. with passenger transportation options ranging from 18 seaters to 52 seaters. Ashok Leyland is a market leader in the bus segment. . It is the second largest commercial vehicle company in India in M&HCV .ASHOK LEYLAND Ashok Leyland is a commercial vehicle manufacturing company based in Chennai. 100% CLUB and GEMBA passport scheme motivates people to contribute their ideas. Safety . 5s [SEIRI.Critical machine uptime 7.EEI (Effort and Ergonomy index) 4.SEIKETSU. Quality 8.Increase in the number of GEMBA 2.SEISO. Reward systems such as IMPROVE. GEMBA MISSION: N7i+1 that refers to new 7 initiatives 1.CMI (Cost management initiative) 5. Inventory Initiative 6.GEMBA KAIZEN AT ASHOK LEYLAND Ashok Leyland targets 100% of its employees to be involved in its continuous improvement activities.SEITON.SHITSUKE] 3. BITES. RISE. Employees helped Ashok Leyland save Rs 1.' a programme to encourage employees to come out with new innovations. It enabled the company to save money and reduce the inventory level to Rs 90 corer (Rs 900 million) from Rs 120 corers (Rs 1. .67Cr The company had implemented 'GEMBA. at its Ennore plant in October 2008.2 billion) a year ago at this plant. it has extensive manufacturing facilities at Chennai and Hosur to manufacture more than 350 assemblies using 900 machines with 1200 skilled work force. Being one of the largest automobile assembly & systems manufacturer. .RAJSRIYA AUTOMOTIVE INDUSTRIES PVT. three wheelers and four wheeler vehicles. RAJSRIYA GROUP specialized in the manufacture of components.LTD RAJSRIYA GROUP was founded in 1977 to take advantage of the opportunities in Chennai automotive market. modules and systems like exhaust systems and steering column assemblies used in two wheelers. VISUAL CONTROL SYSTEM . Systems Followed: .ZERO DEFECT SAMPLING PLAN.2002 SYSTEMS IMPLEMENTATION .. . Lean manufacturing. 5S.GEMBA KAIZEN IN ALL AREAS.QUALITY & STANDARDS RAJSRIYA GROUP believes in making incremental improvements in its process by practicing Kaizen.ISO / TS 16949 .TOTAL PRODUCTIVE MAINTENANCE . JIT & Kanban systems.QCC APPROACH FOR PROBLEM SOLVING USING G8D . . single piece flow.CONTINUOUS IMPROVEMENTS FOR 1'S AND 2'S.7 QC TOOLS & POKA YOKE . .LEAN MANUFACTURING SYSTEM. . poke-Yoke.TPM .SPC TECHNIQUE FOR PROCESS CONTROL. .VCS .JUST IN TIME & KANBAN . Poka Yoke Award from Sundaram Clayton. Award from TVS Suzuki for TPM practices. Award from ACMA for excellence in quality.AWARDS RECOGNITION On time Delivery Award from Sundaram Clayton. Award from TVS Motor company for quality improvement project. . modification. The belief is that with the installation. companies would eliminate any wastage's in the system that does not add value. . marketshare. and shareholder value. The focus in the TBEM is on process-orientation throughout. Human Resource Focus. or improvement of critical processes. Customer and Market Focus. Process Management. Strategic Planning.TATA GROUP Tata Group initiated TBEM model in 2000. and Business Results. Information and Analysis. thereby improving profits. TBEM (TATA BUSINESS EXCELLENCE MODEL) Companies annually evaluated on the 7 criteria that constitute the TBEM: Leadership. inventory was reduced by 30 per cent. Besides. At the Taj Coramandel. of prime real estate. setting the tea-tray earlier took 10 minutes with 79 steps.INDIAN HOTELS Indian Hotels chose Gemba Kaizen-improvement at the workplace. meal experience. big and small results are already flowing in. ft. This was brought down to 5 minutes with 9 steps. 15 lakh every year. Chennai. It has realised that there were at least 5 steps in each of these processes which were redundant. which is saving the hotel Rs. the re-organisation of the stores has released 1. like the check-in and check-out process. . The hotel is also investing in front-end infotech systems to ensure that the information about a customer that is entered in one place is seamlessly replicated throughout the organisation. At the President in Mumbai.000 sq. Post this exercise. Company is mapping out the key processes in each of its luxury hotels. to messagehandling. TITAN INDUSTRIES Titan Industries decided to move towards World Class manufacturing from Day One-in 1986-before the TBEM became a change mantra for the Tatas. . And a voice recording system to log in customer complaints has been introduced. Titan identified departmental and Individual Key Result Areas (KRAs). Total Productive Maintenance. and had a 3-day intensive workshop on the Change Management Process. Total Quality Control. and Housekeeping. trained 50 internal change agents. Results The lead time in its watch-assembly plant has dropped from 17 to 10 days. There have also been improvements in watch repair times: 95 per cent in 7 days to 95 per cent in 4 days. Total Employee Involvement. 5 major thrust areas were: Just-in-Time Manufacturing. Railways.P.HEAVY ENGINEERING CORPORATION "HEC" is a Public Sector Undertaking in India. Space research. HEC consists of three major manufacturing units namely: Foundry forge plant Heavy machine building plant (H. Power. The company is engaged in the manufacture and supply of capital equipment.) Heavy machine tools plant (H.M. established in Ranchi (Jharkhand) in the year 1958. Aluminium.P.M.B. Coal/mining. It is one of India's oldest and largest engineering companies. Ship building. Cement. Atomic energy. machine tools and spares needed for the following core sector industries Steel. It is the biggest industry of its kind in Asia.T. Defence. HEC is a fully owned Government of India Enterprise.) . “Production of quality makes customer’s happy. kanban. It has been given the following quality certifications: 1995-ISO 9001 from Indian Register Quality System for HMTP. smed. pull system. One of the essentials of kaizen is to maintain high quality standards.” . 1996-ISO 9001 from Indian Register Quality System for HMBP. heijunka. 1997-ISO 9002 from Indian Register Quality System for FFP. HEC follows a strict quality standard to make its customers happy.HEC practices JIT. poka yoke and many such kaizen practices. Lifting the tong became much easier and simpler by just inserting a lever. The “tool manipulator” made cutting. .HEC practices Heijunka. This is how HEC has reduced employee burden by balancing the difficult jobs with the easy ones so as not to cause overload on the people and machinery. marking and making dents an easier job. Company uses wagons inside the workshop to move heavy items. HEC follows JIT approach. or the temperature is not according to the standard specified the red light automatically goes on with a loud beep. They design and produce according to the specific requirements of the customers. It uses various foolproof machines. The machine is used for melting various metals. It is an automatic detecting machine. “Vacuum Arc De Gasing Furnace”. If the argon quantity is a little less or little more. . No batch production -> no inventory -> no capital blocking in the form of inventories. HEC follows andon concept. The reasons for the breakdown are also displayed and therefore the employees get alert and see to it that the machine does not breakdown again in the future due to the same reason. the reason as well as how to repair the machine. . There is a screen on the machine itself which automatically flashes the problem. This saves a lot of time. Another machine at HEC is designed in such a way that when the machine breaks down there is no need to diagnose the cause of the breakdown. . Hence we see how smartly problems are made visible at gemba. . Waste is sent to the forging plant and re-melted and recasted. This reduces the chances of producing defective goods.Waste reduction at HEC: Wastage is not a big problem for HEC. The raw materials go through strict inspections before they are fed into the machine. There is no wastage in the form of over production as there is no batch production. . Then they roll up their sleeves and start working in the gemba to solve the problem. The managers often go to the gemba and see what are the problems. In case the production line stops for more than two minutes the assistant manager comes to solve the problem.HEC also practices gemba kaizen. If he is not able to solve the problem the senior manager takes over. Various awards are also given to the employees for giving good suggestions. Hence the raw materials are strictly inspected before they are put into the process.HEC practices quality control Suggestion boxes had been placed at every plant and the employees also made good use of it. Defective materials lead to defective products. . HEC follows “7th class accuracy”. The suggestions are put forward before the top management and they scrutinize the same. HEC follows the concept of zero tolerance. After the completion of the job it is again inspected which confirm to the standards specified. These suggestions are implemented as soon as possible. is monitored. To deliver high quality products Kirloskar constantly updates technology. processes. Every stage of the processes. right from the suppliers to the shop floor.KIRLOSKAR All Kirloskar businesses are ISO 9001 certified. It also tries to produce zero defect products through self-assessment. from R&D to design and manufacture and from people to the machines. machinery and resources. . In the designing department. Continuous changes in the design are made so that the engines adhere to such standards. It has adopted the ISO14001 standard. saves diesel and does not use any pollution. It has an excellent cell layout. PDCA and Kanban in a big way. . It has adopted 5S.Kirloskar has adopted the Toyota Production System. while designing it is kept in mind that the machine uses less lube oil. “Excessive Emission” tests are conducted and latest emission standards are adhered to. The workers enjoy working there. The infrastructure in the workshop is superb. as their work has been made less tiring and less laborious. JIT. Hence the force applied is uniform throughout. This increases the capacity of the engine and also reduces the need for maintenance . The ergonomics is outstanding. There is a place for everything and things are kept in the most efficient way. There is no need for the workers to bend again and again to fetch things. This avoids vibration in the engines and the nut bolts don’t get loose. For crankcases. Engine testing is done very systematically using electrical and hydraulic dynamometer. Kirloskar uses high quality component. which has close tolerance. The ply-wheel berth station is also very systematic. In order to drain the oil completely from the machine a pneumatic tilter is used.At Kirloskar the nuts are tightened with a machine called as Automatic Pulse Tool. lift systems are in place. The quick response by management to these small ideas and quick recognition and reward kept the morale of the employees high. and Chennai bear an uncanny resemblance to a Toyota plant. travel and entertainment.WIPRO Wipro adopted Toyota's kaizen suggestion system. . Wipro's paperwork processing operations in Bangalore. Pune.accounts receivable. Signs hanging over each aisle describe what process is being handled there -. Just like in a Toyota factory. electronic displays mounted on the walls will shift from green to red if things bog down. and so on. cubicles personal desks. Move beyond the misconception – information transactions are not like production At Wipro paperwork processing is done like an assembly line with people lined up along tables. The process is designed to flow. The process flowed step by step down the line (presumably one piece at a time). At Wipro cubicle walls were removed so that the workers handling the transactions would work side by side at long tables. Offices: walls. . Visual signs hanging over the tables identify that these are workstations rather than individual desks.Factories: no walls. Digital display boards show the status of their performance. A red lamp indicates when there is a bottleneck or a problem (andon) and supervisors can immediately address the problem.Team leaders supporting workers and monitoring performance There is a 10-minute startup meeting before each shift. Timing the transactional work Wipro did time observations and redesigned the work areas to improve productivity. Team leaders set goals at the beginning of each shift. . Wipro took one and a half years to learn the Toyota Production System techniques and how to adapt them to the IT industry. .Involving everyone It has adopted the lean manufacturing practice of Toyota for the IT industry because the Japanese were successful in making it participatory even to the last level. This implies total participation. By adopting the Toyota principles the productivity at Wipro improved by 43% and the rework was reduced from 18% to 2%. This plastic is collected and recycled and used again. The worker later replaces the filled container with an empty one. the extra plastic is cut by knife. This also saves a lot of time along with energy. This is an excellent example of using the energy of gravity. .NEELKAMAL PLASTIC INDUSTRY Kaizen is finding a better way to do a particular job and without incurring much expenditure. When the chairs come out of the machine. This rule is practiced at Neelkamal. The plastic so cut is allowed to slip through this hole and it falls into a huge container. Jollyboard (maker of hard and softboards) have successfully implemented Kaizen.Companies like Milton Plastics. . Jollyboard has been able to reduce its workforce by half. increase its production by 40 per cent and revenues by 20 per cent after they have started practicing Kaizen. Thank You .