Comments on: Genchi Genbutsu: Do You Really Understand It?

By: Genchi Genbutsu Revolutionizes Selling–Again! « The Contrary Domino

Genchi Genbutsu Revolutionizes Selling–Again! « The Contrary Domino — Fri, 19 Mar 2010 15:27:50 +0000

[...] from its mistakes? Not fast enough, according to Akio Toyoda, CEO of Toyota, who recently revived genchi genbutsu—the practice of leaving the office and visiting the source of a problem—to help his company [...]

By: Priyavrat Thareja

Priyavrat Thareja — Fri, 17 Apr 2009 09:29:49 +0000

Mr. Yokoya worked on genchi genbutsu right. He actually meant and practised collecting right data “actual place, actual thing,” all affected by moving miles.

If one had assigned this job to a native- through questionare?
aagh!
How do you know your own behaviour- and any disparations therein? The little things which make a difference are not noticed in a jiffy.
Remebering Pareto in a lighter vein, 20 % things contribute to 80 % of the impact ( small things make great (Taguchi) noise) and 80 % of addressal of common things is futile. Toyota does precisely that. with all thanks to the small advice(s).

By: Project Management Resources » Taking the "Gen" out of "Genchi Genbutsu"

Tue, 31 Mar 2009 14:39:38 +0000

[...] is legendary for driving 53,000 miles around North America while developing the minivan, all in an effort to experience the reality of the US [...]

By: Cats Blog » Blog Archive » Management Improvement Carnival #56

Cats Blog » Blog Archive » Management Improvement Carnival #56 — Fri, 13 Mar 2009 09:55:37 +0000

[...] Genchi Genbutsu: Do You Really Understand It? by Ron Pereira – “Most seem to think it means to visit the gemba, or the place the work is done, when something needs addressed. And I suppose it does. But it’s much more than this.” [...]

By: Owen Berkeley-Hill

Owen Berkeley-Hill — Thu, 05 Mar 2009 18:06:44 +0000

I suppose before one goes to the Gemba or decides on the alternatives of market research and focus groups, it is probably wise to understand the purpose of the process.

Many years before Lean and Six Sigma were fashionable, the Process Diagram was in use at Ford. This should not be confused with a process map. The diagram has two feedback loops: the “Voice of the Customer” and the “Voice of the Process” (Process Capability in Black Belt speak). If you ask an audience if the customer is important, you are unlikely to get the response, “No!” But how many organisations are really prepared to listen to customer feedback? For example, now that we have the Web, and the ability to communicate with speed, reach and clarity our parents could only dream about, how many airlines, automakers, mobile-phone companies, and consultancies encourage their customers to give them feedback. I’d guess their portals would be far cheaper than market researchers, but I suppose many expensive egos would be bruised by their customers’ honesty.

So what is the purpose of a Call Centre? Is it to act as an additional revenue stream as customers are kept on hold in a queue which costs them a dollar a minute? Is it to run interference (I suspect the influence of the Buckeyes)? Or is it to really understand what the customer thinks of the product or service and to help them when things go wrong? After all, isn’t this feedback perhaps the biggest single influence on the organisation’s definition of quality? If we accept this then we might (as John Seddon has suggested) alter our criteria for Call Centre success and failure. We might, for example, try to understand the extent of “failure” demand: demand on the Call Centre which is the result of poor product or service quality. If this represents a significant proportion of all calls, then the Call Centre could be considered a waste. But imagine if 99.9% of calls were made because customers wanted more (value-adding demand)? So what is the purpose?

By: Andry Haryanto

Andry Haryanto — Thu, 05 Mar 2009 04:17:30 +0000

Do you always have the luxury of getting your hands wet at the gemba… genchi genbutsu? Sometimes the economics do not allow for such opportunity. Genchi genbutsu is getting your hands wet; how wet should you get?

I am currently working in a team of industrial engineers at Sprint Customer Care. We define and execute call center improvement strategy. This week, I am conducting an assessment of our contact center in Panama City Beach.

We are conducting an assessment to determine potential improvement opportunities by interviewing, collecting data, and shadowing some supervisors. For one week. I see some good data that we can analyze, but I feel like there are a lot of details missing from the observation.

In this position, I feel like I’m playing golf on Nintendo Wii. I understand the game good enough, but not enough to teach anyone to improve his game.

An equivalent for Mr. Yokoya’s journey is for Sprint to have me take over a supervisor’s duty to truly understand and appreciate the complexity. For Toyota, it is easy for them to give Mr. Yokoya a van to drive around. For Sprint, can they afford to have me act as an acting supervisor? Can they absorb the slide in metrics if I can’t manage my team’s performance? Maybe they can arrange for me to perform the duties just for a few days or weeks?

Good idea! Why are we not doing it, then?

First of all, not many college-educated industrial engineers want to step down as a call center supervisors. Not to mention the long hours and high-stress environment.

The second reason, it is much more costly and time-consuming than the second-best alternative: surveys, shadowing, focus groups. This project has a very short time-constraint. If I were an executive, during the current economic condition (and possibly threat of bankruptcy, wallstreet expectation, etc.) I might sacrifice quality for speed, as long as it is good enough.

By: Nilesh Babu

Nilesh Babu — Tue, 03 Mar 2009 02:16:16 +0000

though not the high level managers, P&G has a program called Living It – where P&G employees live with lower income family for several days to understand their product better.

“Going beyond traditional methods such as focus groups and one-way glass, P&G employees visit homes, shop with consumers and work in stores to see how they choose and use products.”

via: http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2008/04/29/business/NA-FEA-FIN-US-P-Gs-Boss.php

By: Dan Markovitz

Dan Markovitz — Mon, 02 Mar 2009 23:24:05 +0000

Focus groups wouldn’t have worked, because neither the participants nor the facilitators would have even thought to ask about (or comment on) something as “obvious” as the crowned roads. Or the high winds. Those are facts of life, and are therefore taken as a given. It’s only be inserting a person from a different environment that the differences can be seen.

By: Curious Cat Management Improvement Blog » Management Improvement Carnival #56

Mon, 02 Mar 2009 19:57:03 +0000

By: Owen Berkeley-Hill

Owen Berkeley-Hill — Mon, 23 Feb 2009 23:56:09 +0000

From my long experience, conventional management training has done everything possible to divorce leaders from the reality of the workplace. The practice of “fast tracking” is a relic from WWII, when dead men’s shoes had to be filled quickly. Now it is done to groom the annointed quickly. The development of spreadsheets and dashboards has only increases this separation, not improved management decision making. I often wonder why management need reports, which, if you think about them are a form of waste. Are they the only ones who can make decisions or entitled to do so? By the time they decide, is it possible that a minor problem has now escalated into a disaster? Does it help managers in their careers to be seen as a Rambo heroically blasting away at the symptoms of a problem? Would life be a little more boring if an educated, empowered and enthusiastic workforce solved most of problems for themselves? Could they fear the alternative of encouraging and coaching people to solve problems rather because they do not understand what goes on in the Gemba.
Have you seen the end of the Men’s Final at Wimbledon when the Duke of Kent comes down from the royal box to award the cup? He makes it a point to talk to one or two of ball boys and girls who flank the way. How enlightening is the conversation? How does it compare with the usual visit by the CEO?
Yes, there is more, much more to Genchi Genbutsu, but I doubt many will understand, as it goes against the teachings of the vast Mafia of business schools.