The Business Book

305

See also: Take the second step 43 ■ Reinventing and adapting 52–57 ■ Beware the yes-men 74–75 ■ Make the most of
your talent 86–87 ■ Is money the motivator? 90–91 ■ Lean production 290–93

DELIVERING THE GOODS

Machines, facilities,

and people should work

together to add value.

Efficiency is a process

of continuous improvement.

Hands-on employees can identify

problems that need fixing.

...the workers’ bond with

the company is strengthened.

...problems can be

solved efficiently.

When management involves

its workers in the

decision-making process...

persuade all workers that they have
been hired for two jobs—doing
their job, and then looking for
ways to do it more efficiently.
Gemba is a Japanese word
meaning “the real place,” in a
business context gemba refers to the
place where value-added is created.
Kaizen is founded on the conviction
that the production-line worker is the
gemba expert who knows where the
problems are. Therefore, most of the
ideas for kaizen change should come
from the factory-floor workers,
rather than from management. This
is because difficulties and
abnormalities can only be analyzed
and fixed at the gemba, not from
the desk. Kaizen philosophy
recognizes that a company’s
greatest resource is its employees.

Quality circles
Kaizen is more likely to be effective if
workers are asked to work as teams,
rather than as isolated individuals.
The process of coming up with good
ideas and solutions is often the
product of the synergy created by
people that have different skill sets,
qualifications, or ways of seeing the
world. Working as a team on kaizen
projects is known as being part of a
“quality circle.” The quality circle
consists of a group of people who
usually work together—for example,
on the same part of an assembly
line—as well as individuals from
other parts of the business who can
bring different perspectives. For
example, an engineer could provide
advice on technical matters, while
sales-team members can give the
group an insight into the customer’s
point of view.
In 1964, Toyota established
quality circles at its factory in
Toyota City, Japan. The quality

circles still meet regularly, at least

once a week, to discuss any of the

problems they have noticed on their

section of the production line. Each

morning employees are expected

to attend an asa-ichi (morning)

meeting with a positive attitude,

before the regular working day

begins. At this meeting they

discuss quality problems and

possible solutions to those problems.

One of the main tools used by

Toyota’s quality circles to generate

kaizen ideas is the “fish-bone”

diagram. This is a graphic device

that uses the outline of a fish

skeleton to plot all the various

aspects of a problem and then

explore a number of solutions.

Quality circle members are asked

to identify possible causes for

the problem, and each suggestion

is classified into one of six

categories: Manpower, Methods,

Machines, Materials, Measurement

(inspection), and Mother Nature ❯❯