Obeya

Obeya (from Japanese Ōbeya 大部屋 "large room") originated in the 1990s at Toyota during the G21 (Globe 21st century) Project, while building the Prius. Chief Engineer of the G21 project, Takeshi Uchiyamada “felt that he lacked the necessary authority to make the optimal decisions, and thought he could be overrun by experienced discipline leaders in a way that was not optimal for the project as such”. (Aasland, Knut & Blankenburg, Detlef. 2012) This need for support from the other leaders that Uchiyamada identified, is what manifested the first Obeya "large room". The Obeya, was instituted "as an arena for all his discussions with the discipline leaders. In this room, the other discipline leaders would be present, and documents and data would be available to all." (Aasland, Knut & Blankenburg, Detlef. 2012)^[1]

It is considered a component of lean manufacturing and in particular the Toyota Production System.^[2] Analogies have been drawn between an obeya and the bridge of a ship, a war room and even a brain.^[3]

During the product and process development, all individuals involved in managerial planning meet in a "great room" to speed communication and decision-making. This is intended to increase efficiency and bring a better flow to the project. The Obeya can be understood as a team spirit improvement tool at an administrative level. Often associated in product development, an Obeya room can also be a place for software development, a command center, managing new business strategy, workflow and project management. ^[4] This tool forces people to work together without distractions and creates a great atmosphere to generate new ideas.

Conceptually akin to traditional “war rooms,” an Obeya will contain visually engaging charts and graphs depicting such information as program timing, milestones and progress-to-date and countermeasures to existing technical or scheduling issues.^[5]

Objectives behind Obeya[]

The objectives behind Obeya are: rapid decision-making, reduction in rework and reconsiderations, and reduction in unnecessary discussions.^[6]

Companies that Use Obeya Rooms & the Effects Obeya has on Business[]

The use of Obeya Room has been proven by many companies to be successful. Some examples of large businesses that use such a room are Toyota, Nike, Boeing, and Volvo. These rooms help to promote problem solving among teams, as well as building communication and encourage team building. Silos are sections of companies that only communicate within their specific divisions or departments. Obeya rooms are designed to reduce silos within companies and increase communication.

“An obeya room gives leaders a clear view of what everyone is working on, as well as why and how. They also can see how their own department’s efforts support or hinder their colleagues.” ^[7]

Obeya Room Success at Nike Europe[]

The Obeya Room has been proven to be the ticket to success and team building for leading shoe manufacturer, Nike Europe. They began to incorporate the use of Obeya room for their IT department. When they began to use the Obeya room they, “decided to focus on the Portfolio and Project Management function within Technology, for which we already had a lot of information.” (Mathijssen, How Nike Created a Successful Lean IT Obeya, 2014) ^[8] As use of Obeya rooms in this instance proved to be successful, the more Nike used the Obeya Room in other departments as well. Nike also realized that the more they focused on the success of the Obeya room, the effect was nothing short of positive. Mathijssen also states, “In our experience, an Obeya room creates a safety zone to make goals and problems visible, so they can be discussed openly, which leads to creative problem solving and innovation.” (Mathijssen, How Nike Created a Successful Lean IT Obeya, 2014)^[9]All of which are the primary goals for the Obeya room no matter what business it is part of; a comfortable space for innovation, open communication, and problem solving.

Adrenaline room & iObeya[]

Toyota Industrial Equipment Manufacturing Inc. (TIEM) has implemented the obeya room and saw it as a "valuable contributor to their lean enterprises." (Jusko, Obeya: The Brain of the Lean Enterprise, 2016) ^[10] It is referred as the 'adrenaline room', where managers go beyond reporting data and keeping teams up to date but make a commitment to move forward with daily goals. Through active collaboration and support of all associates, real-time ideas get to build and real-time issues get solved.^[11]

Many manufacturing companies have implemented the obeya room across factory operations. However, the obeya room could not be implemented across all functions, that is when iObeya came in. iObeya is a digital visual management platform that mimics the obeya room experience virtually. It lets many firms collaborate effectively in a virtual setting. ^[12]

See also[]

• Toyota Production System § Commonly used terminology

References[]

External links[]

• In a word, Toyota drives for innovation, Aug. 2002

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