What is a Kamishibai?

I heard the term kamishibai (紙芝居) used in the context of the Toyota Production System for the first time in 2006. It was at an LEI seminar hosted by a former Toyota manager. At the time I thought it was a gratuitous use of a Japanese term for a simple visual management auditing in the factory. But there’s more to it than that. Kamishibai is a method of process confirmation that plays an important part in a daily management system. Here is some background.

The Origin of Kamishibai

The kamishibai “paper theater” storytelling is common in Japan. They were a feature of my Japanese kindergarten experience. Looking into the origin of kamishibai, I was interested to learn that this paper theater began in the 12th century as Buddhist moral dramas for the illiterate. The audience of the kamishibai saw and heard what happened to the characters in the story. They could compare their lives to the “standard” in the kamishibai story. Were they living their life in a moral way? It was a “self-audit” if you like.

The Kamishibai in TPS

In TPS, the Kamishibai system is the 21st-century equivalent of audits of the kaizen culture. Kamishibai cards are like cue cards or work instructions for auditing a process. Here is an example of a card used in the kamishibai process.

Kamishibai as a form of Preventive Maintenance

If you’re familiar with TPM (Total Productive Maintenance), you can make an analogy. Think of kamishibai as Autonomous Maintenance daily, weekly, and monthly checks. These are performed by the different levels of management. Instead of checking places on the machines, kamishibai audits management systems and standards. In TPM, regular equipment checks prevent machine breakdowns due to machines wearing, overheating, etc. Kamishibai audits detect slipping standards and prevent breakdowns of the Lean management system.

Auditing Key Processes Daily, Weekly, Monthly

The kamishibai board is a visual management tool. It is similar to hour-by-hour production status boards used by supervisors and line managers. Hour-by-hour boards are used intra-day, during the shift, and on an hourly or bi-hourly cadence. Kamishibai boards are used for inter-day, once-daily, weekly, monthly, and even quarterly audits.

Kamishibai Standardizes How We Audit Standards

The standardized approach of the kamishibai board and audit routine minimizes differences between individual managers. It also sets a minimum expectation for attention to detail in what to look and listen for. This reduces variability in outcomes of audits between different people. This is an example of Toyota building brilliant processes that anyone can perform flawlessly. This is in contrast to relying on brilliant people and hero behavior to get by in broken processes.

Where is the Kamishibai Board Located?

Kamishibai boards are located at or very near the workplace. They are normally within the visible range of the process in the scope of the audit. The kamishibai audit items are placed on a visual board. If a card has not been turned over to indicate “complete“, it is obviously an abnormality. Just as taking corrective action based on an end-of-shift production report is not Lean behavior, auditing based on a book or instruction manual on a bookshelf is not Lean behavior. Kamishibai builds in the genchi gembutsu principle to audits.

Kamishibai Adds Structure to Gemba Walks

Gemba walks are a powerful way to bring leadership attention and support to frontline issues. However, without strong visual controls and clear standards, the walk can feel aimless. The kamishibai board is one way to structure part of every gemba walk so that leaders perform process confirmation of key standards every day.

The kamishibai boards focus the attention of the management on the gemba. In order to do your job properly you need to go to the gemba, go to the boards, take the cards, and follow the instructions. It’s quite humbling when you think about it.

The kamishibai process standardizes and prescribes the weekly, monthly, and quarterly “standard work” for managers to check and audit. I wonder many directors and VPs of manufacturing in North America would arrange their schedules around making trips to the kamishibai board?

What Information is on Kamishibai Cards?

Kamishibai systems specify the 5W1H (who, what, where, when, why and how) for confirming process integrity. This information is on the cards on a visual board. Part of the daily management routine in a Lean organization is to audit existing standards. As a result, this exposes deviations so that they can be addressed. The kamishibai is a way to make this process standardized, visible, and easy to do on the gemba.

What do you think?

Have you implemented a kamishibai board in your gemba? Was it successful? If you haven’t, after reading this article are you ready to give it a try? Let us know in the comments.

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