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Articles on the Lean Manufacturing Philosophy of the Gemba

Gemba (現場 gemba?) is a Japanese term meaning “the actual place” or “the real place” or “the place where value is added”.

Japanese detectives call the crime scene gemba, and Japanese TV reporters may refer to themselves as reporting from Gemba. In business, Gemba refers to the place where value is created; in manufacturing the gemba is the factory floor. It can be any “site” such as a construction site, sales floor or where the service provider interacts directly with the customer.

In lean manufacturing, the idea of Gemba is that the problems are visible, and the best improvement ideas will come from going to the Gemba.

The articles below describe the philosophy and practice of the Gemba.

Lean Software Development: Seeing the IT and Software Development Gemba

by Pete Abilla on June 27, 2011

jason yip, lean software development

I’m pleased to present this guest post from Jason Yip, a respected thought-leader on Agile and Lean Software Development. Jason Yip is a Principal Consultant for ThoughtWorks, a global IT consulting firm. You may learn more about him through his blog and by following him on twitter @jchyip. In this post, Jason Yip will discuss [...]

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Lean Manufacturing Concepts: The Gemba

by Pete Abilla on March 23, 2011

gemba walk, jim womack, lean manufacturing, six sigma concept

Publishers send me a lot of books, magazines, etc., and I’m thankful for all of it. Understandably, I can’t and won’t read everything I’m sent. From time to time, I do receive a book for which I’m excited. This is one of those times. Last week, my copy of Jim Womack’s Gemba Walks arrived at [...]

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Before Checking Email, Go To The Gemba

by Pete Abilla on July 30, 2010

At work, before you do anything else, go see your customer (internal or external), go see your team or staff – see how they are doing, go see and spend time where the work is done. Guess who benefits the most when you do this? That’s right, you. By practicing “go and see” (genchi genbutsu) [...]

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The Gemba is the Dojo

by Pete Abilla on August 27, 2007

In my Wing Chun training, my Sifu emphasizes the “learn as you go” philosophy — that is, I learn the material slowly, but my way of learning is also emerging — that is my capability to learn gets better and my capacity to learn increases.  This notion is very much what I also experienced at [...]

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Bill Marriott walks The Gemba

by Pete Abilla on January 17, 2007

Bill Marriott launched a blog yesterday — and, it’s very good. Here is what is good about it: “Now I know this is where the action is if you want to talk to your customers directly — and hear back from them.” That is exactly right. Bill Marriott has traveled the world speaking with employees [...]

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