| Stick with me a moment, because this story has | | | | (cost) in your business? Eliminate wasted effort |
| true application for a LEAN business management | | | | (cost)? Use your tools and staff more efficiently |
| strategy -- a recipe that works. | | | | (savings)? Darn right! |
| The Dumb Story | | | | Last time I checked, saving an expense pays off |
| You're a Norwegian bachelor, sitting in your | | | | just as much increasing a sale, and often more so. |
| kitchen and minding your own business. But every | | | | But these savings don't "just happen." They hide |
| time you look up, there's another guy there -- | | | | inside the way we've always done it. How do you |
| sitting on a platform five or six feet above the | | | | dig inside that little fortress? The LEAN philosophy |
| floor, watching your every move. You pick up a | | | | suggests eight areas of waste to hunt down: |
| spoon, he writes in his notebook. You walk to the | | | | 1. Excessive processing. Weed out any step that |
| refrigerator, he draws on his pad. | | | | the customer wouldn't pay for if you put it on his |
| Perched in his high chair, the observer looks like a | | | | bill. |
| lifeguard. Except, of course, he is wearing a coat | | | | 2. Transportation of things. Trace the product |
| and tie, as his profession requires. Folke, the | | | | through your business. Do you have to move it |
| observer, is paid to observe. And you have | | | | that many times -- or so far? |
| volunteered to be observed. The purpose: To | | | | 3. Motion of people. Wasted footsteps and |
| modernize the home kitchen. | | | | productive footsteps cost the same. |
| It's in a movie called Kitchen Stories, based on | | | | 4. Inventory. If you have more than you need, |
| real-life social experiments conducted in Sweden | | | | your money's tied up in the wrong place. How |
| during the 1950s. (I am taking the word of | | | | many pencils can you use at once? How many |
| Blockbuster's write-up regarding this point.) | | | | are in your drawer? |
| In the movie -- a satire -- a research institute | | | | 5. Overproduction. Is your material making money, |
| sets out to modernize the home kitchen by | | | | or is it waiting days for the next step? |
| observing a handful of Norwegian bachelors. By | | | | 6. Waiting. If something is not being processed, it's |
| analyzing their movements and patterns, they | | | | eating your lunch. |
| hope to develop products that make the kitchen | | | | 7. Underutilized people and resources. People and |
| more efficient for this target market. | | | | resources deteriorate when they're not used. |
| Dumb movie, but very significant topic. | | | | 8. Defects. The worst! You just wasted every |
| 8 Smart Points | | | | step up to that point. |
| Would you like to reduce wasted movement | | | | |