OHNO Circle – Watch & Think for Yourself

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Ohno Circle
In the early 1950’s another car company – the Toyota company – was in a bad situation. Ruined economy, small market,
and bad reputation.

They hired a man named Taichi Ohno, a Mechanical Engineer, to help out. He took the head of Production to the
assembly floor, drew a chalk circle on the floor, and told him to stand for 2 hours, and report what he saw. Two hours
later he came back and the Manager described the processes he saw.

“Two more hours” said Mr. Ohno. When he returned, he asked again and got the same description of processes. Mr.
Ohno went to the wall and wrote the word “Muda” and circled it. This means ‘Waste” or something useless.

He went on to say that “yes, we are making products, but until you see and remove all the wasted effort, materials, and
resources from the process, you will never be competitive”.

THIS is the heart and soul of LEAN:

“Eliminate the Waste from the System”.

Tachi Ohno
 OHNO CIRCLE EXERCISE

Do’s Do Not’s
• Stay inside the circle until a signal from • You can’t move from the assigned location
instructor
• Watch and think for your self • No Talking

• You can draw & have notes after sessions • No Notes are to be taken

• Show respect for others • Don’t sit, bend, slant to the machines or
tables
• Generate small Improvement ideas! (6 daily) • Don’t block the walking path

• Deeply observe why?

• Concentrate
Shop floor Activity (Ohno circle) - Intended Outcome
• Participants to observe abnormalities and
disruptions to flow around team member
• Participants to observe team members
and determine what are the possible
causes for abnormalities and disruptions
to flow. Generate 3 simple ideas to
improve disruptions to flow and team
member productivity