Farming,Gemba Farm,Lean Farm

What is a Farm “Gemba”?

Cows Milking.jpg

What is “Gemba”?

Go See.

In a nutshell, that’s what Gemba means – Go See. Go see the work and activities on the farm, go see your workers, go see how you all do the thing you do. Walk it, learn it, understand it. When you have really seen your processes, you can start to improve them.

A Gemba Walk is a personal observation of the work, in the place the work is happening. There are 3 underpinning values of any Gemba Walk:

  • Go See: We all know this means to go to the place where the work is actually done, but what are you looking for? You want to understand the work from the standpoint of Purpose, Process and People. What’s the purpose of the work happening here? Is the process designed to achieve this purpose? Are the farm staff working towards the purpose – does the process help them do this?
  • Ask Why: Now that you have ‘seen’ the work, how do you analyse it? Are there opportunities for improvement? Have you noticed any waste in the process? If the purpose can’t be achieved, ask ‘why not’?
  • Show Respect: Continuous Improvement (CI) requires that respect is shown to all people, especially those doing value-creating work. On your farm, this can apply not only to the workers but also to the animals. CI on the Farm has been proven to improve animal welfare, and therefore reduce the amount of time and money spent on caring for sick animals. The concept of ‘Show Respect’, is built into CI thinking, not only because it is the right thing to do, but also because it makes sound business sense. It is important to get all your workers involved in the process and challenge them to make things better!

If you would like to do a Gemba Walk on your farm, contact Leading Edge Group and we will be more than happy to help!

Quotes

Farming looks mighty easy when your plough is a pencil and you are a thousand miles from the corn field.” – Dwight Eisenhower

Without data you’re just another person with an opinion.” – W. Edwards Deming 

Coming soon – Lean Farm consultants and Farm owner Pat Ryan will be conducting Gemba walks on two farms in August. Stay in touch and we will keep you informed of progress and we will also demonstrate the results at the Ploughing Championships in September.

Keep up to date with the latest news by following us on LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter.

Related posts

Lean Journey Across Dairy Farms in Ireland

The Leading Edge Group and the Ryan Family embarked on a Lean journey which was…

Lean is the way to go in Pigs, and not just on the Plate

When you hear “Lean” and “Pigs” in the same sentence, it is natural to automatically…

How Lean is your Pig Farm?

Leading Edge Group, Senior Consultant, Barry O’Brien, has been taking part in a Bord Biá…

Dairy Farmers Aiming For Leading Edge in Professionalism

    Our article appeared in the Irish Examiner on January 29th, 2018. The article…

Contact Us

Please call or email us with any queries regarding our Lean Belt training programs.

Oceania - Australia

LEI Group Australia
1/76 Heller St
BRUNSWICK WEST
VIC 3055

Tel: + 61 (03) 9854 6136

Email: info@leadingedgegroup.com

Europe - Ireland

Charter House Cobh,
Co. Cork,
Ireland,
P24 R960

Tel: +353 (21) 4855863

Email: info@leadingedgegroup.com

North America - Canada

60 St. Clair Avenue East Suite 805,
Toronto, ON,
M4T 1N5,
Canada

Tel: +1 (416) 637 5074

Email: info@leadingedgegroup.com