Toyota Production System Concepts

Genchi genbutsu is the Toyota way of thoroughly understanding a situation by personally observing and confirming information or data at the place where the situation is happening. For instance, when someone in charge is trying to figure out a problem, they will go to where the work is being done and watch how it's being done. They will also talk to the people doing the work to make sure the information is correct and to understand what's going on. They won't only trust information from a computer or from other people. This rule applies to both high-level leaders and lower-level supervisors. In simple words, genchi genbutsu in Japanese means "go and see" but it directly translates to "real place and real thing. "