Kaizen - Bulk Floor Stack Aisle

Continuous Improvement is alive and well in Phoenix! November 26-29 found a team in Phoenix working on a new Kaizen, an effort to improve processes in the Bulk Floor Stack Aisle of the warehouse. The primary objectives were to improve productivity, reduce mispicked product, and reduce damage to products. Each or these objectives will be measured with a specific before and after metric, to insure the desired improvements are realized.



Savings from this effort are estimated (conservatively) to be $2,400 per year, all coming from productivity improvement. But, savings could actually be much greater if increased associate satisfaction and customer satisfaction is considered. How much gain some from keeping one strong associate that might otherwise have left the organization? What if one customer renews a contract because of good accuracy? The soft savings could roll up to be much, much higher.



A number of LEAN tools were used by the team, including RASIC, 5S, Standard Operating Procedures, and Leader Standard Work. The team created and SOP for both stock putaway and stock selection on the aisle. In addition, Leader Standard Work was created and implimented for both the eceiving and production leads.



The team's biggest fear? Will our hard work be sustained in the weeks and months to come? Since both the receiving and production leads participated on the team, it is really in their hands! Will they train properly? Will they follow their standard work? If so, their hard work will be sustained far into the future!

Improving Special Order Process Flow

During the week of November 5-9, a CI Project team in Phoenix worked on the development and installation of some improvements to the processing of special orders. A cross-functional team was assembled to address the issues, including misplaced product, missing paperwork, and searching for the items needed.

The team developed a simple Standard Operating Procedure and implimented it, all in the same week! As a result, special orders are processed in a standard way, everyone knows what to expect, small orders are filled and processed immediately, scheduled orders are filled and staged on a cart waiting for their scheduled delivery day, and large furniture items are filled and staged in a special warehouse area set apart and assigned for those orders.

In three weeks following the event, there has been a significant reduction in the time required to process the orders, no more searching to find the product or the paperwork! Most importantly, there hasn't been a single customer complaint about a late or missing special order! Congratulations on a CI well done!

Kaizen - Truck Loading Process

Phoenix conducted their very first Kaizen event in October 2007. The team included eight members, including office, delivery and warehouse associates. The group was guided by our Region Logistics Manager as her "graduation" exercise for her LEAN Champion certification. Her mentor, our corporate Sensei, attended and participated in the event as well.

Our challenges with loading trucks were causing a real "pain point" for both the loading team and delivery drivers. As noted in the "before Kaizen" picture to the left, drivers were having a difficult time with no aisle in the truck, the truck loaded differently every day, labels not facing out, loose cartons stacked where they could fall easily in transit, floor stacked cartons crushed under the truck racks, and general chaos and disorder. It was taking a long time for drivers to leave for deliveries each day so overtime was higher than desired. Cartons were not always on the truck when the driver reached the destination, so extra trips were often necessary.

The Kaizen team met for three days, plus a few training hours just prior to the event. They worked Oct 16-18 from 11:00P-7:30A, a terrible shift to work, but necessary to observe the work being done and to test new processes. They worked well as a team, checking regular titles at the door, and pulled together to make this Kaizen event a complete success! The expected results include reduced loading time, reduced driver overtime, and reduced undelivered cartons for customers. In the early stages following the event, all of these outcomes are being noted!

Since a picture is worth 1000 words, the image on the left is the "after Kaizen" picture of a properly loaded truck. Note how easily one can move through the truck via the clear center aisle. Full pallets are shrink wrapped. Labels are facing out. The Kaizen team created an image-filled SOP, which is posted for reference at every dock door. Standards allow loaders and drivers to know exactly where to load cartons, how to load cartons, and how to handle exceptions to the norm that happen on a regular basis. The dock near the loading doors had 5S applied. A communication white board was installed and standardized for every truck. A leader standard work document was created for the Lead to use during the shift, for preparation, loading, and inspection.

Now the hard part; Sustain! The work has been done for two routes, and it is working beautifully. We are applying the same SOP to all other routes. We expected to have the same results noted for every route in our delivery area! The associates involved with the event felt terrific about their accomplishments and drivers are appreciative of the results. Our customers may not know what we did, but they are receiving the benefit none-the-less. Our first Kaizen event in Phoenix was a wonderful success! Now we need to sustain the success and apply the principle of Kaizen and continuous improvement again and again as we follow the path of our LEAN journey!

Single Point Lesson - Loading Trucks

A new single point lesson has been prepared to outline the proper process to be used in loading a delivery truck from our private fleet. The purpose of this lesson is to load the trucks accurately, making sure all of the correct cartons are on the truck, and the truck is loaded according to our standard work document. This lesson uses pictures and words to define the process. It touches on laydown code review, having the labels visible, the placement of heavy cartons, securing large and odd-sized packages, and including all of the equipment necessary for the driver to make deliveries. As the internal customer, the delivery team will appreciate trucks being loaded to our standard every day. Our external customers will enjoy better sortation accuracy, higher on-time delivery, and less damage.

Copies of this single point lesson will be laminated and mounted to the inside wall of each truck, in a place easy to see for any associate loading the truck. A teaching moment will also be provided in a team meeting and copies will be distributed to all associates certified to load private fleet trucks.

Single Point Lesson - Picking

Phoenix has created a new single point lesson aimed at improving the accuracy of our order picking in flow rack and static bin. The lesson uses pictures and words to describe the standard work for order selection. In addition, the lesson describes the correct way to place items into the order carton, improving the quality of carton packing and reducing damage in transit. Customers will appreciate the improved accuracy, quality, and general appearance of the order contents.



Copies of this single point lesson will be laminated and hung within each picking zone in the flow rack and static bin areas of the warehouse. A teaching moment will also be provided in a team meeting and copies will be distributed to all flow and bin order pickers.

Production Carton Kanban

In August, 2007, our facility ran dangerously low on cartons used in order production. In fact, some sizes did run to zero and the production team needed to substitute different sizes to complete their work. That extra effort resulted in waste and lost productivity!

To insure such a problem never happens again, we installed a production carton kanban system to maintain our production carton stock on hand. Using visual controls in the form of an MDI

board prominently displayed in the office, we have raised awareness regarding the status of our production cartons for all associates. The board displays average usage per day, average days on hand, the reorder point, the last five days on hand counts, and any cartons on order from our supplier. Each size is counted daily, which doesn't take long because the pallets are standard. The count quantity is entered onto the board daily. If an on hand quantity is below the reorder point, it is circled and an order is placed with the carton supplier. If something goes wrong, such as a count being missed or we forget to place a new order when running low, it is obvious to anyone looking at the MDI board and can quickly and easily be corrected.

Setting the reorder point properly, allowing for production time and safety stock needs, coupled with daily counts, insures we will never again run short on our mission critical production cartons!

Mail/Copy Room Paragon Creation

Phoenix has added a second LEAN paragon site within the location. The mail/copy room in the office has received the full 5S treatment! This work was actually performed early in 2007, and has been sustained without fail throughout the year! It is an excellent example of 5S, including the most difficult fifth S, sustain!

The team removed items not used and organized everything remaining. Labels were applied to removable items, so they could easily be identified and returned if discovered in another part of the building. Labels were also applied to all of the mail slots for easy distribution of incoming mail and printed reports. A poster was installed reminding our associates of the Corporate Core Values, Mission Statement, and Brand Essence.


The storage cabinets in the room were cleaned, shelf labels applied, and bins installed for smaller items. The biggest challenge has been to sustain the storage cabinets, which tend to be a magnet for unwanted items people no longer need but are hesitant to discard. The office staff has done a wonderful job of sustaining this 5S project, as the storage cabinets, as well as the room itself, has remained clean and organized!

Single Point Lesson

We have created our first Single Point Lesson in the Phoenix CFC. This simple document provides instructions for our check-pack associates regarding how to apply air pillows as dunnage for outbound cartons. It is designed to be used by experienced associates, as well as people "filling in" at that work station for a short time. After printing the sheet in color, we added a cardboard backing and laminated the page. It has been mounted in the work station for all to see as they work with air pillows.


We believe there are many possible applications for Single Point Lessons in our facility. We are encouraging front line associates, leads, supervisors and managers to submit and develop ideas to apply this tool in our environment.

5S & Visual Controls

Introductory LEAN training has been completed for all associates in Phoenix. Training covered an overview of LEAN, an introduction to 5S, and an introduction to visual controls. Traditional Powerpoint slides were augmented with a DVD on making toast (5S Training) and "house drawing" exercise aimed at demonstrating the importance of using visual controls. Associates were generally attentive during the presentation, and seemed to enjoy the DVD and the drawing exercise. The images below show some of the activities during training.


Operations Director Rob Mays presents the fundamentals of 5S to a group of receiving associates. Notice that none of the associates are sleeping! A positive sign!

A group of associates from production and delivery are working on the 5S word search exercise. This exercise is comprised of a series of six word search puzzles and demonstrates the power of what 5S can do when applied and sustained. 5S principles work whether applied to a word search, and simulation, or real life distribution work.



Associates are drawing houses as part of an exercise designed to demonstrate the power of using visual controls to achieve a standard outcome. A picture is worth a thousand words!



As expected, associates adapted to the training in different ways. Few showed outward resistance, but comments sometimes betrayed their skeptical thoughts. A few associates were quickly enthusiastic supporters of these newly introduced principles, they see the power! Most associates are taking a wait and see approach ... if they begin to see value, they will become supportive of our LEAN effort.

Culture is the biggest obstacle in Phoenix. Many long-term associates want to continue to work in the same processes as in the past. For some, change is a challenge in itself. While our associates are changing at different speeds from one another, they are changing. Little by little, people are learning to see things differently, through new eyes. Ideas are beginning to bubble up from the front line people. As we execute those good ideas, more will come forward as associates develop the knowledge and confidence that they can indeed make a difference in their work place and the performance of their team!

Where are the Cleaning Supplies?

Associates have always had a difficult time finding cleaning supplies for daily housekeeping. Brooms were lost, people couldn't find a dustpan, dust mops were scattered all over the building, and finding a spray or liquid cleaner was a major project! Predictably, housekeeping suffered in the warehouse. This image shows our prior condition, a place where we casually stored a few cleaning supplies, provided people remembered to replace them when they finished using the tools.

We made a few small improvements. We've added 6 cleaning stations around the warehouse. Each station includes a large trash can on wheels, a broom, a floor dust mop, a dust pan, a hand dust mop, and spray cleaners. Each station has a unique color-code using colored tape. Every item is marked according to the colors of that particular station, so a wayward broom can easily be returned to its proper location. Our maintenance associate periodically reviews the cleaning stations and replaces items as necessary to keep the cleaning equipment effective. That allows us to sustain the effort.

This image shows the current state. Our orange cleaning station is ready for action between aisles 34-35. Note the orange tape on the floor, outlining the placement of the station, as well as the orange tape on the trash can, broom, and floor dust mop. The spray cleaners and hand dust mops are stored in the collar on the top of the trash can. Any associate can wheel the entire station directly to the aisle and start daily housekeeping work!

Parking Powered Equipment

In the past, lift equipment had been parked anywhere convenient to the operator at the end of a work shift. When the next shift arrived for work, equipment was scattered, batteries were not charged, and the arriving associates needed to spend time getting ready for the shift.

Phoenix now has a parking lot for equipment. At the end of each shift, operators swap low batteries, connect low batteries to the charger, and park the equipment in a marked parking stall. When the new shift associates arrive for work, they can start working immediately on equipment with a charged battery. And they all know exactly where the machine they need will be parked!

LEAN Bulletin Board

This is our LEAN Bulletin Board. It contains our most current newsletter (all associates receive their own copy of the newsletter as well), the status of in-process SPIN document projects, and miscellaneous LEAN information.

We intend to expand this board to allow more space for our SPIN projects. We will also add 5S projects (before and after photos), associate recognition for using LEAN in the workplace, Dashboard performance data, and maybe some contest or other "fun" events related to LEAN.

Starting the LEAN Journey

This dynamic LEAN Journal is been initiated to document LEAN activities and efforts within the Phoenix Customer Fulfillment Center. This format will allow all associates to review our progress and hopefully stimulate additional ideas. Although we are just starting on our LEAN journey, and we have a very long distance to go, we are beginning to see progress and ideas are coming faster than we can implement them.

Our associates are just getting their first real taste of LEAN. Managers, supervisors and leads have all been trained in 5S. Associates are receiving 5S training in June and July. A few associates are really embracing LEAN principles, a few are resisting them. Most are trying to understand how these principles apply to their individual jobs.