CONTINUOUS IMPROVEMENT MAY 2019
STEP BY STEP
Gemba walks are an integral part of any
manager’s approach to operational excellence.
But they can also prove invaluable for product
and process innovation projects
BY ADRIAN SWINBURNE , HEAD OF CONSUMER, 42 TECHNOLOGY
A s product design consultants, we are
often asked by our clients to conceive
new manufacturing processes, or to
improve existing ones to help create new
products or product variants.
Much of this work is for clients
within the traditional consumer sectors of food,
beverages, home care and personal care, all of
which rely on high-value manufacturing assets,
which means there is usually significant inertia to
avoid new capex or to change existing equipment.
As a result, we are often faced with seemingly
immovable barriers to innovation, with project
briefs expressed in simple terms such as: “We
want to create a new product to exploit this
opportunity, but it must be manufacturable on
our existing assets,” or “We want to significantly
increase line performance but with minimal
further capex.”
Rather than being constraints on the
innovation process, these existing assets can
be valuable enablers.
Constrained innovation
Traditionally, innovation is considered to thrive
best where there are minimal constraints, but even
in constraint-free scenarios, many innovation tools
that deliberately introduce structure, constraint
and rigour to the creative process have found
their way into common and effective usage. Such
structured innovation processes
enhance the ability for teams
with a range of technical and
non-technical disciplines to
make valuable contributions,
and often encourage the
breakdown of perceived barriers
to innovation.
Where the manufacturing
assets themselves are a major
constraint on the innovation
process, it is essential to
include the factory as part of
the innovation environment.
And if done effectively, those
constraints can be transformed
into highly potent catalysts for
the innovation process.
As such, the concept of
‘Going to Gemba’ becomes
an essential step in assetconstrained
innovation.
Going to Gemba
Gemba – ‘the place where value
is created’ – is a key component
within lean manufacturing where
practitioners are always advised
to visit, observe and understand
specific processes and systems
in order to achieve best results
and to avoid misguided and illadvised
improvement initiatives.
Within product and process
innovation projects, Gemba can
play an equally important role,
and if manufacturing assets are
a constraining factor then it is
important to fully understand
their capabilities and limitations
before embarking on the
innovation process.
Specifically, we have learned
that it is valuable to:
● Properly understand
existing asset
performance and
capabilities.
● Explore degrees of
freedom and relative cost
of change based on
hypothetical process
change scenarios.
● Understand how assets
have evolved over the
years, and most
importantly why changes
have been made.
● Establish empathy
and shared vision with
the engineering teams,
such that they become
part of the innovation
team rather than being
isolated from it.
Gemba is a key
component
within lean
manufacturing
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