The Toyota Production System and similar quality systems based largely on the methods of W. Edwards Deming have given rise to a group of quality words that are becoming commonplace in the American language.
One of the less known words but equally important words is Gemba. This Japanese term means “the place where the truth can be found.” Applied to quality management it originally meant the manufacturing floor. The idea being that to solve a problem (in essence “find the root cause”) quality engineers must go there [manufacturing floor] to understand the full impact of the problem.
Toyota management is known for their high presence on the shop floor (the Gemba). Management presence in the Gemba informs management 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 the quality found in the Gemba will determine the success of the company.
Glenn Mazur, in his paper, Quality Function Deployment (QFD), defined Gemba to mean the customer’s place of business. Mazur’s vision was that for any customer-driver project (or business) to truly understand their customers’ problems or opportunities for improvement; that entity must travel to the customer’s place of business (or work environment if internal) and observe. Mazur reasoned that it was only by first hand knowledge gained using all of one’s senses to gather and process data that the truth about a problem could be revealed. He taught that any other decision method could only be used making means of partial guesses.
Quantum Components understands the concept of Gemba and has instituted an open visitation policy to all customer and supplier visits a like. Similarly Quantum employees are encouraged to take every opportunity to visit customers and supplers to observe first hand how others perform their work in the belief that hi-value process improvements are always based on collaboration.
To visit the Quantum Component facilities and learn more about what we do, simply contact Danny McQuay, president or Timothy Gikas, manager of quality at (830) 997-3516 or vist www.Quantum-Components.com for more information.
