“gemba walk” (lean thinking term) to go to the actual place where value is added + “walkabout” (Australian aborigine) a short period of wandering bush life engaged as an occasional interruption of regular work
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In their book Lean Solutions, Jim Womack and Dan Jones describe the principles of lean consumption:
- Solve my problem completely,
- Don’t waste my time (minimize my total cost of consumption, which is the price I pay plus my time and hassle),
- Provide exactly what I want,
- Deliver value where I want it,
- Supply value when I want it,
- Reduce the number of decisions I must make to solve my problems.
I wanted to put a roof under my deck in order to keep the lower-level dry. I found a solution on youtube and the supplies I needed were readily in hand, with the exception of vinyl roofing. I found this on the internet and available (almost) for my use. I needed 18 panels and one of the Lowe’s stores had 17 in stock. It would have been handy to have a way to get that 18th panel delivered to me along with the 17 while on the same web page, but there wasn’t.
I had the 17 delivered at a cost of $50. The delivery truck was from a town 36 miles away made one stop to deliver my stuff and then drove back (we were the only delivery in our area).
A week later, I was ready to finish the product and needed that 18th panel. Maybe they had been restocked at the closest Lowe’s (20 miles from my home)? Nope. There were 2 panels in a Lowe’s that was 46 miles away. It didn’t make sense to have a truck deliver a $20 panel and tack on a $50 delivery charge. So, what to do?
We traveled to the 46 mile destination in rush-hour (construction affected) traffic. I cut the 12 foot panel in half to fit in my vehicle and we returned home. 3 hours later.
So, there’s room for improvement. I must say that Lowe’s impressed me in other ways. They sent e-mails and phone calls to tell me my order was ready and how I could pick it up. An when I got to the store, it was ready. So, good for them.
Contrast that with another experience I had that day in my attempt to make the most out of a 92 mile trip to get a vinyl roof panel. We went to the local REI to pick up something for one of our sons, which we found after not too much looking. But when w e inquired about a pair of sunglasses the process hit a snag. The display glasses are in my hand and I’m ready to make the purchase. But the real glasses are under lock and key and require some assistance. First, we have to find someone in a green REI vest to help us. There seem to be plenty of those around, but they were apparently otherwise occupied or not interested in helping us. We finally found the guy who is responsible for the sunglass area. He opens the cabinet, looks at the very small labels on the boxes and searches, and searches, and searches. He says, “I got to go find out if we have them in another area.” So he goes off. And we wait, and wait, and wait, and wait. Finally, we call a halt to the non-value-added activity. To bad for REI.
So - one company got it almost right (and I will send them this post and I’ll bet they work on it for next time) and one company was not even close. I would send them a link to the post, but my hunch is that the guy is still in the back room looking for the sunglasses - or he got distracted by another customer.
