What Is a Gemba Walk? Purpose, Process, Examples, & How to Do It
Have you ever taken a Gemba walk? It is not the latest health trend, physically speaking. Rather, it is part of the lean management philosophy and is used across many industries to help businesses identify areas for continuous improvement.
It doesn’t matter if you apply the Gemba walk to a shop floor, a warehouse, or massive digital operations. Continuous improvement and recognizing inefficiency are necessary to stay afloat in the fast-paced business world.
This article explains the ins and outs of a successful Gemba walk. We’ll explain the origin, benefits, and steps to do a self-assessment for finding ways to improve continuously.
What Is a Gemba Walk?
“Gemba” is a Japanese word that translates to “the real place.” It also often translates to “the place where value is created.” It’s part of the lean management philosophy and was a concept that inspired lean manufacturing in the U.S.. Taiichi Ohno, a famous engineer for Toyota, coined the term and earned the title of the father of lean manufacturing.
In short, the term Gemba signifies the place where a business creates its valuable product, also known as the front lines. For example, for an automotive company, it’s the factory floor. For a petrochemical company, it’s the oil rigs and refinery plants.
Basically, Gemba walks are a way for managers to be present in these spaces and put themselves at the scene of action. They can review their processes, analyze them, and evaluate their productivity, cost, efficiency, and safety.
In other words, a Gemba walk is a tour of the shop floor. It allows plant managers and leaders to observe the actual work processes, engage with employees, ask questions, gather information and feedback about how work is executed. It’s a practice that allows managers to connect with their frontline workers, to identify waste and ultimately explore how to drive continuous improvement.
What Is the Purpose of a Gemba Walk?
The main purpose of a Gemba walk is to gain a deeper, firsthand understanding of how work actually gets done. By observing processes in real time, leaders can identify inefficiencies, safety concerns, or bottlenecks that might not be visible through reports or meetings.
Gemba walks also foster stronger communication and trust between managers and frontline employees. When leaders are present on the floor, employees feel heard and valued, which can lead to more open sharing of ideas, challenges, and potential improvements.
Ultimately, the purpose is to create a culture of continuous improvement. By witnessing work in action, leaders can make informed decisions, prioritize meaningful changes, and support teams in finding practical solutions. It’s about driving measurable improvements in quality, productivity, and employee engagement—one observation at a time.
Why Are Gemba Walks Important?
The idea behind Gemba walks is that it allows managers and executives to leave their desk and lean into where the actual work takes place. It’s an opportunity to explore the value stream and uncover potential problems through collaboration and communication.
What Not to Do on a Gemba Walk
Remember, a Gemba walks isn’t about finding faults or pointing fingers – that’s exactly what you don’t want to be do. As a manager, your primary objective is to collaborate with your team and find problems together. Focus on finding weak spots in work operations, not your people.
Gemba Walk Benefits
A well-executed Gemba walk delivers value far beyond simply observing day-to-day operations. When leaders regularly spend time where work actually happens, they unlock several key advantages:
Greater Process Visibility
Seeing workflows firsthand gives managers a clear, real-world view of how tasks are performed, helping them spot hidden inefficiencies or potential risks that reports alone might miss.
Stronger Employee Engagement
By listening to frontline workers and acknowledging their input, leaders build trust and encourage a culture where employees feel valued and empowered to share ideas.
Faster, Better Decisions
Observing work in action provides immediate context, allowing management to prioritize improvements and respond quickly to changing conditions.
Continuous Improvement Mindset
Regular walks reinforce lean principles by turning process review into a routine habit, helping teams focus on eliminating waste and driving long-term operational excellence.
Better Cross-Team Collaboration
When different departments participate, a Gemba walk sparks conversations across roles, breaking down silos and promoting shared ownership of results.
3 Elements of a Gemba Walk
Thinking of the Gemba walk as a tool for businesses to identify and eliminate wasteful activities is essential. Here are three elements of a successful Gemba walk.
Go & See
Be present. A simple act, but something management frequently fails at. Regular Gemba walks through “the real place” are essential to understanding the struggles workers face daily.
Some managers shy away from this, thinking a Gemba walk might make team members nervous. However, in reality, management by walking around (MBWA) is anything but ominous. It isn’t about judging workers. Rather, it’s a way for managers to evaluate their operations objectively. From there, they have opportunities to identify ways to optimize processes and benefit their employees.
Ask Why
Without active communication, the Gemba walk is useless. Good leaders know to listen first and then speak.
A Gemba walk relies on understanding the needs and complaints of those who work on the front lines. This involves being present, asking why certain processes are problematic, and listening to criticisms.
This step takes some digging, so managers must learn to employ various techniques. The five whys is a method for managers to understand the reasons behind problems. It involves listening and asking questions instead of giving orders.
Respect People
While performing a Gemba walk, it’s critical to avoid coming across as domineering or judgmental. Too often, managers can point fingers and criticize workers when in fact, it’s their own processes that stifle productivity. A Gemba walk is a team activity to improve processes and make them more productive for everyone.
Gemba Walk Process: 7 Steps to Follow When You Go to Gemba
To ensure success, you should practice seven key steps with every Gemba walk:
- Pick a theme to focus efforts on a specific area, such as safety or productivity.
- Prepare your team so everyone is comfortable and understands expectations.
- Focus on the process, not on the people, because a Gemba walk is not a performance evaluation.
- Be where the value stream is, because that’s where the most potential for positive change resides.
- Record your observations and wait to offer solutions later.
- Add an extra pair of eyes by bringing along a colleague from another department.
- Follow up with all teams about any upcoming changes.
Gemba Walk Checklist: Questions to Ask
Gemba walks require forethought. This way, you can target your efforts and actually get to the heart of the issues.
Prepare a list of questions to remember as you investigate key processes. Of course, these questions will vary depending on the nature of the process, but below are a few general questions to use:
- What is the description of this work process?
- Does this work have an established process?
- Does this process further our company’s goals?
- Who is responsible for each task in the process?
- What might cause this process to fail to reach its goals?
- Do workers know how to report issues?
- What could speed up or make this process more efficient?
How to Do a Gemba Walk
In order to get the most out of your Gemba walk, you’ll want to have a plan in place before you begin. Here are some tips to set you up for success.
Choose a Theme for Your Walk
The first step is identifying what is main purpose of the Gemba walk? This will help keep you focused and narrow down your scope. There are many different themes to explore, for example, safety, productivity, innovation or workspace efficiency to name a few. Once you’ve identified the theme, you can now start building out the list of questions to ask along the way.
Prepare the Team
You don’t want to spring this on your team, instead you’ll want to give them a heads up. Let the team know in advance, what is a Gemba walk, what can they expect and what’s the purpose of it? This way they’ll feel comfortable about it and more willing to collaborate. Don’t forget to communicate that the ultimate goal is continuous improvement.
Focus on the Process
Remember this isn’t an evaluation of your team’s performance. The purpose is to observe, ask questions, and gather information that will feed back into improving processes. You’re here to identify barriers, waste and inefficiencies on the shop floor hindering productivity.
Focus on the Value Stream
Identify the value your company produces and be sure to focus on the whole value stream. It’s a good idea to jot down your questions ahead of time to ensure you don’t miss any work or operational processes. By focusing on the value chain you can identify bottlenecks, tasks that aren’t distributed optimally or activities that cause waste. Eliminating these activities will help improve your performance.
Record Your Observations
Record as much information as possible as you carry out your Gemba walk. Take photos, videos, or write down notes. It might be tempting to make recommendations or come up with solutions on the spot, but leave the analysis for later.
Get a Second Point of View
After you’ve compiled all of your information it can’t hurt to share it with a colleague, someone with a fresh set of eyes that’s removed from the process. Getting a second opinion can help identify any gaps, uncover any missed opportunities or simply give you a different perspective.
Follow up with the Team
Don’t forget to follow up and share your findings with the team. Remember this is a collaborative effort and the last thing you want is for your team to feel like they’re being watched. Include them throughout the process. Share what you learned, including issues or gaps and the immediate resolution and action to be taken. Take this time to figure out what processes you’ll want to keep and where there’s room for improvement.
Gemba Walk Examples
Because Gemba walks can be adapted to almost any type of operation, they look a little different in every industry. Here are a few practical scenarios that show how leaders put the concept into action:
Manufacturing Shop Floor
A plant manager conducts a Gemba walk along the assembly line during peak production. They observe how equipment changeovers are handled, carefully noting small delays between runs. By speaking with machine operators and maintenance staff, the manager uncovers scheduling conflicts and minor setup inefficiencies. These insights lead to an updated changeover process and more efficient staffing, reducing downtime and boosting throughput.
Warehouse & Logistics
A distribution supervisor traces the full journey of an order—from initial picking to final packing and staging. Along the way, they notice staff taking extra steps due to a poorly organized bin layout. Through open conversations with employees, the supervisor identifies high-traffic bottlenecks and opportunities to reposition frequently used items. After the walk, the team reorganizes the warehouse floor and updates picking routes, improving fulfillment speed and reducing worker fatigue.
Quality Control & Inspection Area
A manufacturing quality manager observes the end-of-line inspection station where finished parts are tested and packaged. They talk with inspectors about recurring rework and learn that incomplete documentation from upstream processes causes confusion and delays. By sharing these findings across departments, the manager helps implement a standardized checklist and clearer communication protocol. The result is fewer errors, faster inspections, and a more consistent product quality.
Tapping into Your Whole Team for Successful Gemba Walks
The idea behind the Gemba walk is to get out and see what’s actually happening on the factory floor. Many manufacturing operations often work around the clock. And if you’re a manager that typically works during the day, you’re not getting the full picture and are missing out on key information. Perhaps workers from the night shift face a completely different set of challenges. On top of that, you might be at risk of only hearing complaints from vocal workers which doesn’t provide a holistic view of your operations. The main purpose is to have as many different points of view as possible to make the best decision that will actually drive improvements.
Avoiding the Common Challenges of Gemba Walks
The problem with Gemba walks is that they’re often ad hoc get-togethers. Managers walk the manufacturing floor and don’t necessarily always have a structured or standardized process in place. On top of that, you’re likely taking notes down on paper, or sometimes not taking notes at all—giving you an anecdotal snapshot. And once your Gemba walk is complete, you’ll then enter that information into a spreadsheet or system of record. This leads to a gap in time or waiting, also known as a delay in the process—from when you made the observation to reporting it. This contributes to waste in the form of non-value-added work, and a missed continuous improvement opportunity.
Give Your Team the Digital Tools They Need
With digital work instructions and connected worker software, you can digitally connect your frontline workers using mobile devices or tablets on the factory floor. Aside from making sure your team has access to up-to-date information in the palm of their hands to do their jobs, this software allows them to capture problems in real-time by taking photos, videos or jotting down notes—creating a digital record.
Parsable digitally connects your teams across shifts, plants, and sites and gives them the tools they need to collaborate and contribute to your information gathering process. The real-time nature of the app allows workers to immediately log information, rather than waiting for the next scheduled Gemba walk to take place. This not only unlocks tribal knowledge, since that valuable information is now being captured digitally, but it provides visibility and a dialogue to take place since workers and managers can seamlessly share instant feedback.
Gemba Walk FAQ
What is the meaning of Gemba walk?
A Gemba walk is when leaders go to the “real place” where work happens—such as the shop floor—to observe processes and talk with employees. It helps them understand how value is created and where improvements can be made.
Why do Gemba walks?
Gemba walks give managers firsthand insight into operations so they can spot inefficiencies, uncover obstacles, and encourage continuous improvement. They also build trust by fostering open communication with frontline employees.
How long should a Gemba walk take?
Most Gemba walks last 15 minutes to an hour, depending on the size of the area and the complexity of the process being reviewed. The key is to take enough time to observe and ask thoughtful questions without disrupting work.
How often should Gemba walks be done?
Many companies aim for weekly walks, but the frequency can vary based on production schedules or improvement goals. The important thing is to make them a consistent part of leadership routines.
Practice Gemba Walks Efficiently with Help from Parsable & CAI Software
Incorporating the Gemba walk into your management strategy is always a good idea. However, you must approach it as effectively as possible. Using the best tools is a great way to keep front-line workers satisfied, safe, and able to communicate effectively. To ensure you’re providing frontline workers the tools they need for success, consider investing in Parsable digital work instruction and connected worker software by CAI.
Parsable enhances communication between front-line workers and management by allowing them to streamline collaboration and track key processes. Our app collects data from the front lines and helps with tasks like documenting processes, making checklists, and following regulations.
Interested in learning more about Parsable or ready to get started? Contact CAI Software today!