So, where's Gemba? And why are our people going there? In Lean lingo, "gemba" means the actual place where work is done, whether it's the OR at Children's or a Toyota plant in Japan.

Ever since we started using Lean methods, staff members have been going to gemba, both at Children's and at local companies, to observe how these principles are put into practice.

This month, for the first time ever, a group of 22 leaders from throughout the hospital is visiting the Toyota plant in Japan. On this blog, you can read about what they're learning and post your questions and comments.

The following is excerpted from the February 12, 2007 InHouse article....

Jennifer Becker from Orthopedics and Dr. Lynn Martin from Anesthesiology are two of the leaders participating in these training trips to Japan. Jennifer will be going later this year, and Dr. Lynn Martin is there this very minute.

Both have already participated in Lean Leader training through our Continuous Performance Improvement (CPI) Department. And, as either of them can tell you, hands-on Lean training can help you see the work at Children's in a whole new way.

Pat Hagan, reporting live from Japan

Greetings from Odawara, Japan! Our intrepid band of 22 of your colleagues arrived safe and sound in Japan late Friday night local time. (Japan is 16 hours ahead of Seattle.)

We have spent our first 3 days reviewing our value stream maps, studying the history of Toyota at the Toyota Museum in Nagoya, learning more about "flow" and other lean concepts from our Japanese sensei, and of course sampling the sights, sounds, and tastes of the local culture. Kathy Mullin says the sushi rivals what she's had in our Sound Cafe!

Today (Thursday already!) we head for Hammamatsu to visit the Yamaha and Honda motorcycle plants. We left Odawara via bullet train, a 150 mph journey that, despite the speed, is calm and routine, almost relaxing. See the picture of Jennifer Abermanis, Cara Bailey, and Jim Ladd to see what I mean.

While in Odawara we spent a day each at 2 factories of the Yamatake company. Yamatake manufactures a variety of high tech and industrial products and has been using lean methodology for 20 years. The purpose of our time with Yamatake was to improve our powers of observation, our ability to see, when we "go to Gemba".

So, we've heard that our colleagues are wondering who has gone to gemba. Here's a list of everyone who went on this trip, and the teams they're working with:

Our most recent two days (Thursday and Friday) have been spent learning at Yamaha, Honda, and Aisin. We saw Yamaha and Honda make motorcycles and watched Aisin manufacture car parts and mattresses(!!). With each succeeding visit we are experiencing better and better examples of efficient systems and worker supports, and we are improving our ability to "see" them. I am sure it is hard to believe but, though we have been here over a week and spent countless hours at several factories...we are still highly engaged and yes, still excited to be here. We are learning a lot.

Today (Tuesday) marks our last full day in Japan. We spent the weekend in Kyoto--including a day off from our studies on Sunday (!)--and concluded our factory visits with a day at Toyota on Monday.