Learn to See; Gemba Walks & Process Confirmation

Spotting Improvement Opportunities in Your Organisation

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Course Outline

• The importance of being in touch – direct observations‍
• Setting and reinforcing the standard
• Discovering issues early
• Improving communications

• The 5 Lean Principles – ideal operations

• Definition of Work‍
• 7 Wastes (Muda)
• Overburden (Muri)
• Unevenness  (Mura)

• Digging deeper – the importance of identifying the underlying issues

• The three types of activities‍
• Hi level Process Observation
• Process Confirmation
• Task Observations

• Conducting interviews – the right way and the wrong way‍
• The importance of checking against standards
• Focus on the process, not the person

• Implementing management systems – Process Confirmation systems‍

• Application to Process Safety (and other domains)

Training Notes -

A full hardcopy set of slides and handouts will be given to delegates attending the course

Why Learn to See?

“You should never let computer systems get between you and your plant” – Japanese Improvement Engineer.

Going out and observing actual operations is invaluable in understanding what is really happening, to discover and address the real everyday issues that occur. This course is about asking the right questions and being able interpret what one is seeing. People who will benefit from this course will include:

• Executive leaders

• Site managers

• Line managers, eg, Production/ Operations

• Supervisors

• Continuous Improvement/ Business Improvement personnel

To understand and relate to what is happening one has to observe first-hand.

Gemba walks are a way to systemise the process of observing, but it takes skill and knowledge to ask the right questions, to look in the right places, to know and interpret what is being seen.

Just chatting with operators is not sufficient.

This course will begin with some fundamental Lean principles of the definitions of Work and the 7 Wastes, giving a framework for observations, and builds upon this to explore the symptoms of the 7 Wastes so that when operations are observed the issues are seen.

This may appear deceptively simple but

learning to see is a skill that needs to be taught.

Asking the right questions is equally important. If done well, issues are found early and nipped in the bud. A team will feel listened to and empowered. Leadership will be accessible, improving communications and staff morale. Standards are checked and reinforced, improving safety and efficiency. Business systems are adhered too, reducing risk.

Drawing on our trainer’s twenty years of experience of implementing Lean for clients, primarily in the Process Industries, this course provides delegates with the knowledge of how to enquire, observe, interpret and communicate findings, and how to action issues to improve the business. Case studies and examples are used to illustrate scenarios.

The course is delivered in the context of working in the process industries, including COMAH sites. The principles transfer well into Process Safety contexts.

We also deliver this course in other industry specific contexts.