Toyota is famous for its production system, known worldwide as Lean Manufacturing, and among its many facets, the 3 “GEN” principle (or philosophy, as Toyota itself refers) is a very interesting aspect, and deserves to be incorporated into the day-to-day activities of the Organizations.
The 3 “GEN” are:
- GENBA: it means “real place”, that is, where things happen, and, in an industrial organization, it is known as a shop floor. The Genba thinking implies that the actions and processes are as transparent as possible, since this visibility allows to identify areas where potential improvements can be made, as well as, to find the best solutions to the problems. In addition, Genba means being effectively in the place of the focus of attention, experiencing your processes.
- GENBUTSU: it means “real product”, that is, it is the object of analysis. It means having contact, knowing, experimenting, testing and analyzing the part or product that you want to find the solution to some problem, or perform certain improvement.
- GENJITSU: it means “reality”, and means to know the facts related to what is being studied. It consists, objectively speaking, of analyzing the more recent facts and more linked to the object of our attention.
We should not confuse these 3 “GEN”, which we call principles, with the methodology of problem solving (MASP or 8D), because, while the former mean a philosophy, a way of acting, the latter are tools, that is , they refer to the form of acting.