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Is the bottleneck in Gemba misplaced?
When we visit Gemba (actual place of action), it’s important to identify where its bottleneck is. This is done by looking at the queue in front of various work stations.
Once the bottleneck is identified, teams usually get down to analysing what is causing the bottleneck and how to ease it. They often miss an important intermediate step, which is crucial for sustained improvements.
Is this the place where the bottleneck should be? If we were to design the entire Gemba afresh, from a clean slate, would we place the bottleneck at this place? If not, we need to first identify why the bottleneck has shifted and how to bring it back to the correct place.
Once the bottleneck is where it should be, we should take the next logical step of debottlenecking it for sustained improvements.