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!