Gemba Kaizen: A Commonsense Approach to a Continuous ImprovementStrategy, Second EditionBOOK DETAILHardcover: 448 pages Publisher: McGraw-Hill Education; 2 edition (June 13, 2012) Language: English ISBN-10:0071790357 ISBN-13: 978-0071790352 Product Dimensions: 6.3 x 1.3 x 9.2 inches Shipping Weight: 1.8 pounds (Viewshipping rates and policies) Customer Reviews:Book DescriptionPublisher's Note: Products purchased from Third Party sellers are not guaranteed by the publisher for quality, authenticity,or access to any online entitlements included with the product. The definitive, fully up-to-date guide to continuousimprovement in the workplace "An updated version of a classic book that shares a wealth of new healthcare examples andcase studies from around the world. The methods in this book will help you improve quality and safety, reduce waitingtimes, and improve the long-term financial position of your organization. Highly recommended!" --Mark Graban, authorof Lean Hospitals and coauthor of Healthcare Kaizen "Every business faces the iron triangle of quality, cost, and delivery.Conventional thinking claims you cannot have all three. Not only does Mr. Imai turn that thinking on its head, but heshows you exactly how to do it." -- Matthew E. May, author of The Elegant Solution and The Laws of Subtraction"Masaaki Imai has done it again. The second edition of his famous book not only describes all the tools necessary for anytype of business to implement a lean strategy but also includes a large number of excellent case studies." -- Art Byrne,author of The Lean Turnaround Written by Masaaki Imai, pioneer of modern business operational excellence and founderof the Kaizen Institute, Gemba Kaizen, Second Edition is an in-depth revision of this renowned, bestselling work. Thebook reveals how to implement cost-effective, incremental improvements in your most critical business processes. Globalcase studies from a wide range of industries demonstrate how gemba kaizen has been successfully used to:Maximizecapacity and reduce inventory at Unga Limited, one of Kenya's largest flour-milling operationsChange the IT culture atAchmea, a large European insurance firmExceed customer expectations at Walt Disney World in the UnitedStatesImprove quality at Inoue Hospital in JapanTransform retail processes at Sonae MC, Portugal's largestemployerPractice daily kaizen at Tork Ledervin, a weaving plant in BrazilStamp out muda at Sunclipse, an industrial
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During the past 27 years since Kaizen was first published, manyhave lookedfor and asked what is next? but many times they areoverlooking what isdirectly in front of them. We must go back tothe basics and ask how wellwe have kept a steady, long-term focuson kaizen. Everyone in the companymust work together to followthree ground rules for practicing kaizen inthe gemba:
The third ground rule of kaizen practices in the gemba is stan-dardization. Standards may be defined as the best way to do thejob. Forproducts or services created as a result of a series ofprocesses, a certainstandard must be maintained at each process inorder to assure quality.Maintaining standards is a way of assuringquality at each process andpreventing the recurrence of errors.
Supporting these rules of kaizen is the foundation of the houseofgembanamely, the use of such human-centered activ ities aslearningtogether, teamwork, morale enhancement, self -discipline,quality circles,and suggestions. These are all methods not only forgenerating improve -ments in safety, quality and cost, but positivemeans to kaizen and developour people.
Management (especially Western management) must regain thepowerof common sense and start applying it in the gemba. These low-costpractices will provide management with the opportunity for afuture phaseof rapid growth via innovationsomething Westernmanagement excelsat. When Western management combines kaizen withits innovativeingenuity, it will greatly improve its competitivestrength.
I wish to recognize and thank everyone who has taken up kaizen.Themany cases and explanations of kaizen which are documented inthis secondedition are the fruits of the many workers, engineers,administrators, nurses,officials, managers and professionals whopractice continuous improvementand were engaged in gemba kaizen atour clients sites around the world.This book is truly a result ofteamwork, collaboration and the kaizen spiritat work.
Besides those whose names appear in the book, I am particularlyindebted to Professor Zenjiro Sawada at Kurume University, whogave methe inspiration for the House of Gemba Management throughhis bookVisual Control of Factory Management (published in Englishin 1991 fromNikkan Kogyo Shinbun); Ichiro Majima, Dean of Facultyof BusinessAdministration of Miyazaki Sangyo Keiei University, whoprovid ed muchvaluable information in writing this book; Kaizen consultants KenjiTakahashi, Yukio Kakiuchi, and many others who workedtogether with usin giving many gemba kaizen sessions at the clientssites around the world.
Today, organizations worldwide from manufacturers, to hospitals,tobanks, to software developers, to governments are making adifference byadopting kaizen philosophies, mind-sets, andmethodologies. Even thoughthe names of these strategies may changeover the decades from continuousquality improvement and totalquality management, to just-in-time andoperational excellence, tosix sigma and lean manufacturing, the mostsuccessful of thesestrategies are customer-focused, gemba-oriented,andkaizen-driven.
To realize the ideal JIT production system, a series of kaizenactivitiesmust be carried out continuously to elimi nate non-value-adding work ingemba. JIT dramatically reduces cost, delivers theproduct in time, andgreatly enhances compa ny profits.
Following the chapters of this book, I have assembled a numberof casesthat illustrate how various companies from bothmanufacturing and servicesectors have implemented the concepts andsystems of gemba kaizen.
Adoption of the word gemba has lagged behind adoption of thekaizenconcept in the world. This is unfortunate but understandable;being presenton the gemba can be a greater mind-set and behaviorchange than simplydoing kaizen.
Within Japanese industry, the word gemba is almost as popularaskaizen. Joop Bokern, one of the first kaizen consul tants inEurope, hadworked at Philips Electronics N.V. in Europe asproduction manager, asplant director, and finally as corporatequality manager. Bokern said that
whenever he visit ed a Japanese company, he had a rule of thumbtodetermine whether the company was a good one or not. If, in hisconver -sation with the Japanese manager, he heard the word kaizenwithin the first5 minutes and the word gemba within the first 10minutes, he concludedthat it must be a good compa ny. Bokernsexample shows that kaizen andgemba are sub jects close to managershearts and that they often make deci -sions based on theirunderstanding of their gemba.
Eric Machiels, who came to Japan from Europe as a young studenttolearn about Japanese management practices, was placed in aJapaneseautomotive assembly plant as an opera tor: Comparing hisexperience therewith his previous experi ence in European gemba,Machiels observed muchmore intense communication between managementand operators in Japan,resulting in a much more effective two- wayinforma tion flow between them.Workers had a much clearer understanding of management expectationsand of their ownresponsibilities in the whole kaizen process. Theresultingconstructive tension on the work floor made the work muchmore challeng -ing in terms of meeting management expecta tions andgiving workers ahigher sense of pride in their work.
achieve that goal in the gemba. Thus the thrust for improvementshould beboth bottom- up and top-down. In Figure 2. 2, man agementstays on top ofthe organization. It takes the initiative inestablishing policies, targets, andpriorities and in allocatingresources such as manpower and money. In thismodel, man agementmust exercise leadership and determine the kind ofkaizen mosturgently needed. This process of achieving corpo rate objectivesiscalled policy deployment. Because of their attachment to the gemba-management relationship as shown in the regular triangle (Figure2. 2), manymanagers tend to believe that their job is always totell the gemba what to do.However, by looking at the invertedtriangle (Figure 2 .1) showing gemba atthe top, managers can seethat they should listen to and learn from employeesat the gemba inorder to pro vide appropriate help. Gemba becomes the sourceforachiev ing commonsense, low- cost improvements.
Two major activities take place in the gemba on a daily basis asregardsresource managementnamely, maintenance and kaizen. Theformerrelates to following existing standards and maintaining thestatus quo, andthe latter relates to improving such standards.Gemba managers engage inone or the other of these two functions,and quality, cost, and delivery(QCD) are the outcome.
In order to realize QCD, the company must manage variousresourcesproperly on a daily basis. These resources includepersonnel, information,equipment, and materials. Efficient dailymanagement of resources requiresstandards. Every time problems orirregularities arise, the manager mustinvestigate, identify theroot cause, and revise the existing standards orimplement new onesto prevent recurrence. Standards become an integralpart of gembakaizen and provide the basis for daily improvement.
The kaizen principle of 5S stands for five Japanese words thatconstitutegood workplace organization. Today, practicing 5S hasbecome almost amust for any company engaged in manufacturing. Anobservant gembamanagement expert can determine the cal iber of acompany in five minutesby visiting the plant and tak ing a goodlook at what goes on there, especiallyin regard to muda eliminationand 5S. A lack of 5S in the gemba should beconsidered a visualindicator of inefficiency, muda, insufficient self -discipline, lowmorale, poor quality, high costs, and an inability to meetdeliveryterms. Suppliers not practicing 5S will not be taken seriouslybyprospective customers. These five points of housekeepingrepresent astarting point for any company that seeks to berecognized as a responsiblemanufacturer eligible for world- classstatus. (The implications of 5S will beexplained in detail inChapter 5.) 2ff7e9595c
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