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!