What is ‘Gemba’ (or ‘Genba’)?
Gemba is ‘The actual place; the place where the work is performed.’
‘Work’ is defined here as ‘Value created’.
So Gemba is the place where the value is being (or should be) created.
In the 2020 Corona crises, in many countries it became clear -in a shocking way- where ‘Gemba’ is, what ‘value’ is and how much respect and focus should be payed to those who perform their tasks on the gemba, even when the conditions are terrible.
The sixth key in Monozukuri Kata, ‘respect for people’ primarily means: ‘Make sure people creating value can do their job’.