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.