Implementing organization-wide Gemba using noninvasive process mining

Lean promotes gemba, a Japanese term that means “go and see.” Gemba represents the search for knowledge; it helps us understand the execution of processes, why certain activities take the time they take, who is involved in the activities, and so on. Gemba promotes a culture of measurement, a culture that wants to understand the best strategy to achieve a given goal. In this article, we describe how practitioners can use noninvasive (i.e., without human interaction) measurement in combination with process mining to understand the real process that is carried out as opposed to the documented, ideal process. Process mining implements “go and see” since it does not beautify the reality — it shows it as it is. We will explore the question, “How can we exploit gemba, the discipline of getting and understanding data within the organization, on an holistic level?”