Kamishibai Boards: A Lean Visual Management System That Supports Layered Audits - Softcover

The Kamishibai process is one of the simplest, but most effective, methods of visual management a company can put into place. It is self-managing, meaning you do not need sophisticated ‘systems’ to manage the process and has inherent built in layered audits. Joe Niederstadt does a great job of explaining how to use this tool. More importantly, he explains how to take this tool off the production floor and apply it in transactional processes in your back office or support functions. Follow this blueprint and you can create sustainable Lean processes in your organization.
―Tim Conrad, Director, Operational Excellence, Gates Corporation

Kamishibai is a great tool to implement a continuous improvement culture in any organization, and there must have been many books or white papers published on it so far, but very few of them are being written by an actual practitioner who has implemented this tool on his own. I have seen how Joe was instrumental in deploying Kamishibai at Gates India as Head-Operational Excellence-Asia Pacific. Joe’s enormous experience and profound knowledge has enhanced the authenticity of this book. I am extremely delighted that he is putting his invaluable experiences into words for the benefit of the thousands of young talents in the industries, which are keen to embrace the Lean Philosophy. I am sure the audience will find this book extremely helpful to comprehend the concept as Kamishibai and to roll it out in their respective areas.
―Chiranjib Biswas, VP of Finance Lean Practice & Organization Optimization, Royal Bank of Scotland, India

I spent 20 years working for the Gates Corporation from 1988-2009. We had always felt that we were a good manufacturing company but it wasn't until we embraced a holistic approach to Lean that we could 'see' the path to become a great manufacturing company. As President of Gates Corporation from 2007 to 2009, we accelerated our efforts on our path to being a great manufacturing company. Once the foundation is strong for Lean it becomes more important to have the factory communicate and become visual to make it 'easy to see' Lean.

The disciplined use of Kamishibai boards allows a factory to speak to the eyes of all employees. In his new book, Joe has been able to simplify the understanding of Kamishibai boards and as a result he has removed any of the hesitations and fears that arise during the change to lean. Joe is also able to provide a disciplined and yet calm approach to making audits a natural part of seeing a factory, a management team, and a business to confirm all actions needed to succeed.
―John Bohenick, President, SKF Sealing Solutions

Part of the Toyota Production System, Kamishibai boards are simple and flexible visual controls for performing audits within a manufacturing process. When used properly, they are powerful tools for performing, managing, and auditing tasks of specific duties.

Kamishibai Boards: A Lean Visual Management System That Supports Layered Audits explains how to use this visual management system to identify normal conditions versus abnormal conditions in your organization. Filled with easy-to-follow instructions that require minimal training, it outlines a layered audit system for sustaining continuous improvement that can be applied to any organization in any industry.

The book includes a CD with master forms you can use to create your own daily, weekly, or monthly Kamishibai cards for any subject. The CD also includes electronic copies of all examples in the book.

Helping you focus on resolving abnormal situations, the book supplies the understanding required to make problems, abnormalities, and variations from the standard visible so corrective actions can be made right away―so you can spend more of your valuable time on achieving sustainable improvement.