“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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I’m wrapping up the deck project (phase IV, I think) and to do so, I need some rocks. The most logical way to get them would be to have some delivered. But I want to work on this project today, on this holiday weekend, and I know delivery is not an option.
You can buy bags of rocks at Mills Fleet Farm which is not too far away, so off I go. To buy the rocks you go to the “garden section” and take one of the kanban cards to the check-out desk. They ask you how many you want, you tell them, you pay for it, then drive around and pick them up. My first trip to Fleet Farm (I had our daughter’s corolla, so I was not going to be able to transport a lot), I asked for 6 bags. I took the last kanban card (see picture).
I tell the check-out guy (don’t remember his name) that I took the last card. He said “thanks”. When I pick up the rocks, they’ve got a lot of rock bags in the back storage area - about 50 I would guess.
6 bags doesn’t go very far (I knew that, but now I know about how many bags a corolla can safely transport). So, I go back to get 10 more. What is the likelihood that the kanban card has been refilled? (there are still lots of bags out back). If this were Lowe’s there might be a chance it was refilled. But this is Fleet Farm and the card is not there (I took the last one).
So I find a helpful person in an orange shirt. That takes about 5 minutes. My “waiting” sensor is kicking in. This girl (don’t remember her name) knew just what to do, but she needed a scanner. Why doesn’t she have a scanner? Are they in short supply? She disappears, I wait (10 minutes). She comes back, scans the orange area - see photo. I’m guessing that this is communicating with the computer to check to see if there are still rocks out back. I tell her there are about 50 bags back there. She proceeds to write up a yellow slip, hands it to me and I go through the process. Now there are 2 Fleet Farm employees that know they need to resupply the kanban cards. Maybe that’s someone else’s job?
16 bags is a good start, but I’m not finished yet. Back to the Fleet Farm. About 1-2 hours pass between my trips to Fleet Farm, so I’m thinking someone could take the time to refill the kanban cards. But no.
Third (and last) trip, the story is the same. This time, I locate another worker - Kevin. He is willing to help, but he too needs to find a scanner, which he does. He scans the orange thing and tells me there are only 11 bags out back (and I told him I want 12). I tell Kevin that I was just back there and there are about 50 (well, minus the 16 I took). Kevin looks stumped. He’s gotta call someone about this. So, he disappears and I wait, and wait. 15 minutes later he comes back and says he’s called a guy. 10 minutes after that, I guy shows up (Dan) and he tells me there are only 11 bags left. I tell Dan (and retell Kevin) that there are more than that. I just bought some and I doubt that there was another customer in the last hour.
Dan has to go check it out himself. Can’t have a customer go back and pick something up if there isn’t anything (or enough) there! But what if the customer knows there is plenty there? I tell Dan (and Kevin) that the rocks are at the end of aisle 3. I locate a rocking chair and wait some more - 20 minutes.
Now, normally this is where I say “enough of this shit!” and leave the store. But I need the rocks and I figure it will give me something to write about - which it did.
Dan and Kevin return. They say there are about 30 bags back there (told you so). I say I’ll take 12 and be on my way.
How long will it take for Dan, Kevin and the others to refill the Kanban cards? Should I go back today and the next day to find out?
By the way, when I left, there were 17 bags of rocks left.
