Application of Gemba Kaizen Concept in the production Departmen
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Gemba kaizen is an advancement of Business quality management. Consistent improvement (Kaizen) is applied in the office (Gemba). In the production department, there should always be a continuous effort in improving the quality of products for marketing. In a manufacturing department, focus is always on the production department because this is where value is added to the factor inputs to come up with something saleable and this is the only way of increasing the market value of the company in the industry and then Earnings Per share and more investors are attracted to the company resulting in more funding. Focus is on operations preference. This is where the real action takes place and funds should not be wasted or wastages should not occur because this may be very costly to the company and losses occur. All production should be profitable and very low cost and this can only be achieved through efficient and effective operations. All bureaucracies that prevent the concentration of an entity should be done away with. In the production departments there should be no unnecessary steps, which do not add value to the desired final output. The need for House keeping some simplistic but Imai is on solid ground, demonstrating the practability of Gemba Kaizen.
Imai M. (2001) Pg. 43-56
           Extensive research for solutions can hinder profitability and success of the company. Clear common knowledge of positive changes and refinements to crucial firm operations. Results are quality, marketability and productivity at low cost effort and time. Effects of Kaizen are multiplied by application on Gemba on areas of real action.
Imai M. (2006) Pg.300
 Organizational change procedure emerged to help in reconstruction of the economy. Western companies produce first class products and services due to the application of Gemba Kaizen. Gemba Kaizen emphasizes on total quality management, total product maintenance, total employee improvement, just in time and value adding at low cost. The total output per month could have been one million at one million Dollars, the output after application of Gemba Kaizen will be the same one million units at a cost of around eight hundred thousand dollars.
How to manage quality, cost and delivery of Gemba in the Production department:
To manage quality, cost and delivery of Gemba in the production department, Gemba Kaizen should be very effective if employees have the wave of continuous positive change. This ensures that the employees are motivated from within and do not need monetary gains from the company in order to improve their perfomance.Therefore all activities can be improved at low cost with no wastages and spending on idle time which is an unnecessary expense to the company. All activities have wastage according to Gemba and this can only be achieved if professional development and growth is enhanced. This provides more skills and knowledge necessary for the production and ensures accurate budgets and consumption. Focus of the production management should be on reducing or eliminating wastages. At times the operational staff may not be adequately motivated and this leads to carelessness and lack of caution. Delays therefore occur which may result in cancelled orders to the disadvantage of the company. Customer value should be improved by researching and using the data or information collected to improve products at the most minimum cost because the long-term objectives is profit maximization at low cost.
Vitalo R.C, Butz F. (2006) Pg 11
Kaizen concepts, principles, methods, tools and implementing in real time. Gemba Kaizen can be applied on; Factory floor situations, business development, administrative systems and processes. Gemba strategy makes real work activities better, real time implementation of business strategy.
The benefits employees of the Production department get after implementing Gemba Kaizen:(The Body)
After implementing Gemba Kaizen, employees of the production department can have a lot of benefits from the company’s management. Consideration of effectiveness is better than thinking of big movement, funds are therefore saved for employee motivation through good reward system that enhances production at low cost. Changes equals more profitability which will be a ground for the employees to request for a better salary package because the profit margin is a true measure of the efficiency in production and the quality of their work.. Gemba is at the real place where real action takes place (production site). Operational staff will be considered most because they are the people who actually add value to the products and their salary packages should always be improved if possible on an annual basis.
Hill Mc Graw. (2007) Pg.21-23
 Software’s are made to involve everybody in the entity, low level staff, middle management and high executives. Software development is considered more than manufacturing.
Muda elimination;
Muda means any economically unviable activity or any destruction to the regular flow of activities. Activity equals, Work plus Wastage; and expenditure equals, cost plus waste
No muda results to better quality, cost of purchase and delivery of products and services and consumers will be happy. Gemba is where value is gained. You should determine, lower and do away with Muda from our Gemba. Kaizen is meant for operational staff not management. Kaizen is little improvement only. Kaizen is a form of suggestion scheme in force. So any improvement is Kaizen.
Elearn. (2000). Pg.26
How the department can improve customer satisfaction by managing the needs through application of Gemba Kaizen:
The production department can improve customer satisfaction by managing the needs through application of Gemba Kaizen because;
Huge positive changes, his is basically through improvement of operations and this leads to new change in production lines. This leads to better quality of products. This can be noted by the demand of the company’s products in the market. If there are no positive changes in the final products, consumers will go for substitutes and this enhances the position of competitors in the industry. Little time and finances are employed, funding can there be employed in market research in order to determine the expectations of customers who may recommend what the company needs to do in order to achieve customer specifications. Bureaucratic bottleneck is solved, customers are only interested in what satisfies their needs, they didn’t mind about what goes on in the company. Some of the bureaucracies may not be good at improving the quality of goods needed. There should be space for customers to make recommendations straight to the management of the company, which will assist them in improvements. Activity monitoring takes place, management is directly involved and Kaizen models are used effectively.
Johnson M.D. (2001) Pg.56
Mura; this is the lack of consistency in the system. It happens at areas, at given times, to some employees, one part may be okay while others are not
Imai M. (2004). Pg14-15
Muri;
Is the physical/real pressure. These are cases of force to work, pushing harder, lifting the weight, reoccurrence of transactions and unnecessary work. Gemba Kaizen is a focus of repeatedly determining, lowering and doing away with Muda, Mura, and Muri from Gemba.
Gemba Kaizens workshops include; Concentrated serious positive change, teams across departments, sparing time for Kaizen, applying the principle of Gemba management, No unnecessary investments and having a PDCA cycle.
David (2000)Pg.93
Gemba Kaizen principle includes; Go to Gemba, check Gembutsu (item at Gemba), take instant actions,determine the real cause and eliminate, standard procedures to avoid repetition
Imai M. (2004)Pg,30-35
Recommendations and conclusion:
In conclusion, Gemba Kaizen principle is very necessary in the production department of any company and should be applied consistently. This can be told from the good value of the Gemba Kaizen concept. Benefits from Gemba Kaizen include:
Process betterment; all actions taking place in the production department should be improved because this is the only channel that can enhance high revenue at low cost and high profits to the company. This avoids delays, wastages and unnecessary costs, which may not be beneficial to the company. Observation; this is the process of accessing the operations in order to make recommendations and improvements where necessary. Determination of corrective measures will be made and the management will be able to discuss more changes aimed at increasing the market value of the company inn the industry.
use of new models; after observation recommendations should be based on new techniques that can be enhanced by better skills to ensue efficient and effective production at low cost.
short time of action; operational staff at the production department should have the authority to initiate the necessary steps required in making changes and moving towards all what has been recommended after observation. People should not be waiting for authority from above in order to move because some decisions and making of choices may be very prompt in the right direction No new investments and profit margins and savings; Improvement of operations should be the order of the day and focus should be here. There is no need to make fresh purchases of machinery and equipment because the old can be renovated incase they have been depreciated for a long time.
Goldsmith M. (2006)Pg 300
References:
An Interview with Masaaki Mai @http://www.qualitydigest.com/june97/html/imai.html
Retrieved on 18/10/2007
Critical analysis of Imai’s Gemba Kaizen @ www.dqg.org/qquill/sept05/sept/arwa/article.pdf
Retrieved on 18/10/2007
David H. (2002). The 30 Second Encyclopedia of Learning and Performance. Pg.93
Elearn. (2000). Quality and Operational Management. Pg. 29
Gemba Kaizen, Productivity Tools, Kaizen, Muri, Muda, Mura, Gemba @
http://www.npccmauritius.com/gembakaizen retrieved on 18/10/2007
Hill Mc G. (1997). A common Sense, Low cost Approach to Management. Pg.21-23 Harvard
Business School
Imai M. (2000). Collaborating for change: Gemba Kaizen. Pg.43-56 Berrett-Koehler Publishers
Imai M. (2001). Gemba Kaizen: A common sense, Low cost Approach to Management. Pg.30-35 Mc Gaw Hill. ISBN-10: 0070314462
Imai M. (2004). The Key to Japan’s Competitive Success. Pg.14-15
Imai M. (2006). The next Generation. Pg.300
Johnson M.D. (2001). Improving Customer Satisfaction, Loyalty and Performance. Pg56
Vitalo R. L, Butz F. (2006). Kaizen Desk Reference Standard.Pg.11 Lowrey Press. ISBNJ-
9722810-3-7