Seeing It

We have been struggling in one business unit for a while. The resources we have poured in haven’t moved the needle. Turnover has been a killer. Even accounting for that we should be in better shape. Last week I spent a couple of days working in the space. 

Usually I like Kaizen events, getting people together in the department to brainstorm and try ideas fast. Amazing things sometimes come out of those collaborations. This was not one of those days. It was partly a staffing issue, but it was mostly my need to think and be in the space in the moment. 

There are times the best person to trust is yourself. 

I left the limited staff to their jobs and didn’t have a set plan, specific goal, or schedule.

I started in an area no one was working, just cleaning, sorting, and seeing. There is something about being in a space, slowing down, and letting it tell its own story. Pretty soon I had purged stuff that did not belong. The thing about brown boxes and closed totes is their contents are safe in their anonymity. That cleared enough space to see what belonged.

As I cleaned, sorted, and thought, a couple of core issues became apparent. By the end of the first day only what belonged in the space remained and a better flow was coming into focus. I cleaned workspaces, and carts vacuumed, and tossed bags of trash. 

As a side note, when a division leader has sleeves rolled up, it sends a message. 

But, was I seeing problems or symptoms? 

By now it was clear several things weren’t causing the roadblocks. That was progress as well. 

By the end of the first day, I hat reset some fixtures, adjusted and added others. The next morning I walked and talked through the updated flow and new features with staff. They were on board with the changes. Next I spent time working with staff to see first hand what was going on. I was clear my questions were to understand not judge. Like a Kaizen event, we tested ideas.

The flow was smoother but there were still bumps, thankfully nothing new or different broke. We moved one piece of equipment that will save an hour or more a week all by itself. 

No review is complete without looking at software and how it interacts with physical systems. Here we talked through processes as they happened, discussing workflow. I took on one of the functions (frankly a simple one) to actively be in the space and flow. We talked through a number of items.

We found one process in particular that can be automated, saving easily 8 hours a week in labor time. A whole day! 

Wherever there is a product for a customer, there is a value stream. The challenge lies in seeing it. Mike Rother, Learning to See

This business unit depends on other business units for inventory, we surfaced some deficiencies in educating intersecting staff. I saw that not far down the road we will have to find additional sources of inventory. 

In two days equipment was added, the workflow was rearranged, we found ways to better use technology, and the department is easier to work in. We reduced the number of physical and technological steps needed to get some things done. 

We documented other issues we have to solve for. That’s the thing about focused attention. Some things become obvious, while others take their time percolating to consciousness. It can be like peeling layers of paint off of an old house. There is always one more to go.

There is still a lot of work to do, but now we have a clearer idea of what that is. I expect we will surface more improvements as we work through the ones now on our radar. 

We will see what that does to the top and bottom lines.

In conclusion:

When something isn’t working roll up your sleeves, go look and see. 

Thanks for reading!

Tim Gebauer - Thrift Retailer