Gemba

The Japanese term for "actual place," often used for the workplace or other place where actual value creation takes place. Also spelled genba. 

The term is often used to emphasize that real improvement requires constant attention to the shop floor, in the form of direct observation of the current conditions under which work is performed. Standardized work for a machine operator, for example, cannot be written down from behind an engineer's desk, but must be drafted and adjusted on the gemba.