Gemba
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Gemba is a Japanese term meaning "the place where the truth can be found." Others may call it "the value proposition."
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[edit] Quality
In quality management, gemba means the manufacturing floor and the idea is that if a problem occurs, the engineers must go there to understand the full impact of the problem, gathering data from all sources. Unlike focus groups and surveys, gemba visits are not scripted or bound by what we want to ask.
Glenn Mazur introduced this term in the Quality Function Deployment (QFD) (a quality system for new products where manufacturing has not begun) to mean the customer's place of business or lifestyle. The idea is that to be customer-driven, one must go to the customer's gemba to understand his problems and opportunities, using all one's senses to gather and process data.
[edit] Customer visit
A Gemba visit is often simply called a customer visit. The hallmarks that make it uniquely useful are:
- the purpose is firstly to observe, occasionally to question, rarely to guide or direct
- the visit occurs in the context where the product or service is used, which allows direct observation of problems that arise, workarounds that are applied, and capabilities or services that are never used
- sometimes the customer (or client or user) is asked to describe what he is doing while he is doing it; this provides insight into the thought processes, which often reveal differences between the customer's mental model and the model of the developers or providers of the product or service.
- the customer will often express wishes or needs while working in context that would be forgotten or suppressed in a different context such as a structured interview or sales meeting
Common cases for a customer visit include:
- enhancing the features or usability of products (especially software) or devices (especially ones aimed at very broad or very niche consumers)
- improving processes or tools
[edit] Managerial style
Toyota have a very high proportion of their management on the shop floor (the Gemba) so that supervisors can be intimately involved in quality issues as they arise. Their presence in the Gemba informs their decision making and speeds resolution of problems. This Gemba attitude is driven by the belief that all customer value is created in the Gemba and it is therefore the qualities of the Gemba which will determine the success of the company.
Japanese detectives call the crime scene a gemba.
