More than Just Lines on a Map: Best Practices for U.S Bike Routes
Lean Pizza Applying Lean Manufacturing Principles To A Ma And Pa Small Business
1. Lean PIZZA Applying Lean
Principles to Small Businesses
Lean Manufacturing can be successfully
applied to improve a Pizza Business
Special points of interest:
•This experience reaffirmed that any process, no matter what it is or how small, can realize
significant benefits from implementing lean.
•Most people do not think that there is opportunity for significant improvement in a pizza
operation– it is small and nothing complicated seem to take place. WRONG!!!
No, this isn’t a story on how to make a pizza that has fewer calories or is fat-free.
Rather, it is a story of how even a small “ma and pa” shop can effectively analyze
its marketing; competitors; suppliers and process layout and by applying lean
manufacturing concepts and tools, see a significant improvement in their bottom-
line results.
This story reaffirms that lean manufacturing, as a strategy, philosophy; and as a tool,
can take any process and with little or minimal cost, see dramatic improvements in
its ability to perform and increase its competitiveness
The story begins one day as I was sitting inside a corner service station, eating
pizza from a pizza and chicken business located inside the service station, From my
position, I could observe the actions inside both the pizza and chicken businesses
(owned by the same person but operated as two separate businesses). The pizza
operation was located in an area approximately 15 feet by 20 feet. The equipment
inside the pizza operation consisted of 3 ovens stacked vertically on top of each
other and occupied an area about 3 feet by 5 feet, physically located in the middle
of the room. To the left of the ovens was a cooler tray/table where all the
ingredients that were for immediate use in making pizzas and sandwiches were
kept cool. This cooler was slightly elevated about 6” above the work surface and
was also slightly slanted to make it easier to take ingredients out of the separate
tubs. The worktable where the pizzas were made on was about 30 inches wide by 6
feet long). To the left of this cooler table was a single cooler standing about 7 feet
high, where sodas and containers of more commonly used ingredients that required
refrigeration were kept.
There was a small 30 inch by 3 foot work table located to the right of the take-off
side of the ovens where the cooked pizzas were taken manually from the oven, put
2. into a pre-folded box and cut into slices. When the complete order was ready, the
person working on the table or the person taking orders would let the deliverers
know that an order was ready for delivery. The person next in line for delivering an
order would take the food and place it in a special insulated delivery “bag to keep
the food hot.
A small inventory of pre-folded boxes (14 and 16 inch pizza boxes which were most
common size pizza sold) were kept and stored on some simple metal shelving
above the cooler table and the other worktable.
At the time I was observing, it was about 12:30 p.m., one of their high customer
traffic times. I sat and ate my pizza, intrigued by the flurry of hectic activity that was
going on in that small space. There were 6 people working:
•1 person was making the pizza’s;
• 2 delivery drivers were standing by waiting for deliveries to be ready.
•1 clerk took care of the cash register and sales, and
•1 person answering calls and faxed and writing tickets for food that was ordered.
•1 person was answering the phone, filling out the order forms, figuring prices and
taxes, and when not busy, being a general helper.
I was amazed that anything was getting done in that small space.
The layout of the equipment with the ovens in the middle of the room clearly limited
the movement of people and restricted where supplies that were needed to be kept
on hand could to be located. People bumped into each other constantly. The person
taking the orders and writing out the tickets would often put one hand over one of
her ears so that she could hear better. The people working in the area spoke in a
loud voice, often joking and laughing at a level that was clearing distracting to the
order writer and heaven knows what the customer on the line was thinking.
The person making the pizzas did not measure anything and I wondered how he
could insure consistency in weight, amount of ingredients used, etc.
When ingredients needed replenishing, it required someone to be told by the person
making the pizzas that he needed “so and so”. This person then walked
approximately 50 feet, that took him on a course through the chicken place (which
we will discuss a little later on) to a storage freezer area where extra boxes, frozen
foods and ingredients were kept This person would sometimes walk back and forth
3-4 times to get materials while the person needing the materials would often wait.
Most of the pizza ingredients were kept in medium size boxes or 1-gallon cans.
These required the person to return with the ingredient open the box or can, and
then put the ingredient in the proper cooler tray position.
I observed this operation for about 45 minutes. When the traffic died down and I
went up to the counter and asked if the manager/owner was there. He was and I
introduced myself. I asked him if he had a few minutes to sit and talked and we
went and sat at one of the area dining tables.
I told him about my observations and what I do for a living. I asked him if he was
happy with the way the pizza business was operating and had he ever thought
about how the business could be improved.
He stated that that overall his business was doing well. He had owned the business
now for about a year, and had worked for the previous owner for 2 1/2 years before
purchasing the business. He had some occasional delivery problems; training
problems; turnover; and of course, the pizza business competition was tough. But
overall he was satisfied with business operations.
I asked him if there was one thing that he could improve with his current operations,
3. what would that one thing be? He thought for a few minutes and responded, “ I
would like to see it more organized and people helping out before they are asked to.
I would also like to see all of my drivers more “energetic” and do deliveries more
quickly”.
I told him that there was great opportunity to improve those aspects of his business
and others things as well. I told him that I was willing to help him and would be
willing to spend a few days with working in the pizza area to get a better
understanding of everything, I also requested to be a deliverer so that I could get
first-hand experience with delivery.
We worked out an arrangement for my “pizza experience” and agreed that he
would owe me nothing if he wasn’t satisfied with my recommendations and he
didn’t realize at least a 10% improvement in productivity, measured by efficiency;
reduced time from customer order to delivery; and reduction of waste. He agreed.
If you are like me and most other people, the process of pizza making seems pretty
straightforward and simple. I was told by the employees that one of the “nice
things” about making pizza was it was virtually impossible to “screw up”. Pizza
making consists of putting on a mixture of ingredients on a pie crust. If you messed
up, no one usually noticed.
But as is the case in most situations, even the simplest of tasks are often more
complex than it seems at first.
The following are the “waste” that I observed during my first few days as a
“professional pizza employee”:
•Layout of the equipment, storage areas and flow was very inefficient. To much
back-tracking, double-backing, and having to do extra walking and movement to
get products, ingredients and other items that were not stored close to the work
station where it was used. No 5S.
•There was no exact science of measuring ingredients. Each person who made
pizzas (the owner normally made the pizzas and sandwiches but when he
wasn’t there, people “filled in” on a rotating basis.. This resulted in great
variance in the amount of ingredients that were put on each pizza or sandwich.
At times there would be less cheese and meat, at others times, excess cheese,
meat and other ingredients. The decision making process was up to the
individual’s discretion, based upon a brief training session by the owner.
•The area and floor were not kept clean. Especially during the busy periods of the
day, it wasn’t uncommon to have the floor look like a food fight had taken place,
especially by the pizza making station. No one seemed to think about keeping
the floor clean.
•The trash at times would overflow and wouldn’t be taken out unless the owner
asked or even then, not till the end of the day.
•Storage space was located too far away– especially the frozen or refrigerated
items. Traveling back and forth 50-60 feet one way was a transportation waste.
But because the working space was limited, this waste was accepted.
•The order taking work station was in a constant state of disorder and made it
difficult for the person taking the order to have room to write, use the calculator
and keep things organized..
•There was little effective training given to a new person starting. Instructions were
given quickly and it appeared that you were shown one time and expected to
know how to do the task properly.
•There were no standardized work methods or specific policies or procedures. This
lent toward people doing things “their way” which often was not the most
effective or was very wasteful.
4. •Deliverers were not always kept productively busy when waiting for an order to be
delivered was completed. Some would take it upon themselves to help out
where needed. Others just stood around or went out to the booth area and
smoked until an order came up.
•Little proper planning and coordination was done. Instead of getting boxes, etc
ready before the pizza came out, people would wait until the pizza was done,
then look at the ticket, find the order, and then box it. Very inefficient. No Set
Reduction techniques were used.
•When on deliveries, by the end of my first day, the owner commented to me that he
was impressed with my “speed” in delivery. He said it was a long time since he
had someone who had “ a sense of urgency” and delivered and got back.
I observed the other deliverers for the next few days. It finally occurred to me why
some of the other deliverers were “slow”— if they went on a delivery and got a
“good tip’ they would take their time getting back because they were content with
the money they made that hour. The usual means of payment for a pizza deliverer
was $6.00 an hour base, $1.00 for each trip, and then the tips. It wasn’t uncommon
for the average deliverer to make $11.00 –$15.00 an hour. Their incentive was not
customer service, but whether they were content with how much they made that
hour. No performance measurements.
•Deliverers did not always have the most reliable vehicles or well kept. One deliverer
often had to add oil once or twice during his shift because it leaked so badly.
One customer even called and complained about the oil spots that he left on
their concrete driveway when he delivered.
•Orders were supposed to be kept in order by ticket number. That way, the earliest
order would be completed before a later placed order. When an order was
taken, the ticket was separated. The green color top copy was placed on an
“order board” and the white carbon copy was given to the pizza maker as the
“kanban’ to make the order, per customer specifications.
What I observed was that the deliverers would often switch the order of the
tickets. They would do this if they didn’t want to deliver an order out of town, or
was too far away, or they know the customer didn’t give any tip or a very small tip.
The owner and the person boxing the pizzas and completing an order, did not pay
very close attention to this aspect. Even when they did, they often didn’t say
anything.
•Sometimes customers would request pizza, sandwiches and chicken. Even though
the chicken and pizza places were right next to each other, you would have
thought at times that they were located miles apart. Orders would be delayed
because no one had taken the ticket to signal those in the chicken place that a
customer order was taken.
From the above situations, it is easy to see that there existed several opportunities
for improvement. But as it is customary in many organizations, people saw these
things as “the way things were”, and didn’t give any thought to making
improvements. The impact that these various forms of waste had on the overall
operations was missed.
After a few days of working, I compiled a series of suggestions that I knew would
help improve the efficiency, cleanliness. But I suggested to the owner that he and I
hold a meeting with the employees and review what was observed and get their
feedback and suggestions first.
A meeting was held, and as if often the case, the employees were at first hesitant to
say anything. With a little coaxing, they began to open up and started to offer many
suggestions (we brainstormed during this part of the presentation). The end result
was not only a comprehensive list of small, low or no cost improvements were
5. developed. The agreed upon schedule was a short- “mini-KAIZEN” event to
reorganize, relocated equipment, etc and then determine what needed to be done
after the event.
In short, the following things took place during the mini-KAIZEN event:
•The ovens were relocated from the center of the work area, to be against the
outside wall. This opened up a larger area for people and product flow, and gave
more options to organization and storage of materials. (5S).
•A small team of employees, with the owner, looked at and laid out a revised
material storage area, based upon the concepts of reduced traveling; reduced
movements, ease of location at point of use. The end result was materials were
stored in a more organized and easily retrieved manner, and getting materials
was made more productive. The issue of the freezer storage area was not
addressed as part of this project, since it would involve a large investment to
move the freezer to a new and closer location. But it is on a “to-do project list:”
for the future.
•Some additional shelving was added above the work areas which allowed for more
storage area. This resulted in fewer trips having to be made during a day to get
replacement ingredients etc.
A visual system was created when ingredients, boxes etc were needed. By using a
simple tack board, the Board, the items were listed on the board. Each container
was marked and when the level of ingredients got to that level, the pizza maker
would hang a red color tag under the needed item. Employees were trained to
always look at the board when they went by. Whoever saw it first would replenish
the material. This simple method reduced the times the process of making pizzas
had to stop while ingredients were being obtained from the freezer area.
•The storage of the delivery bags was moved from under the counter to near where
the pizzas were taken from the oven, cut, and boxed. This reduces the traffic
and back and forth movement in getting orders ready without creating a traffic
congestion.
•A minimum, throughout-the-shift cleaning schedule was created. Employees were
also trained so that anyone who was “free” and the area needed to be swept
before the next scheduled time, would clean up the area.
Focus here was on perception by customers and vendors and how the work
place looked.
•A new ticket control system was developed to insure that orders were processed
and delivered in the order taken. If any exceptions were required (combining
orders that were located within a specified distance of each other) the owner or
shift leader would be responsible for authorizing the change.
•A training format and classes were developed and used to re-train everyone on
procedures and policies. A master copy was kept on the shelf by the order taker
workstation and abbreviated copies of the more important tasks were placed on
the wall for reminders.
•A time clock was put in place ( the deliverer’s idea) and when a person left to go
on a delivery, the green copy of the order form would be ‘stamped” with the
time. When they returned, they once again “stamped” the same ticket. This
information was then analyzed and charted and average delivery times were
posted for each person and for total of all deliverers. While a strict “time
schedule’ does not always lend itself to this situation, (since some orders are
only blocks away and others are 15-20 miles round trip), an “average time”
category based upon distance was developed and guidelines were established
with input from the drivers. The average time per delivery has decreased by 25%
in the short time that this system has been in place.
6. By improving the average delivery time per driver, the number of drivers
needed per shift has been reduced. On the busier shifts, one less driver is now
needed to make more deliveries.
•The order taker workstation was improved by adding shelves and keeping the
worktable organized and free of “extraneous materials” (used to be everyone
left their own personal items on the table or threw things on it). A new telephone
was purchased that allowed for improved loudness settings that helped to hear
the customers without having to cover your ears. The employees also were
trained in the need to hold conversations down to a level that did not interfere
with hearing the customer on the phone or that the customers would hear.
•Measuring the ingredients more consistently was accomplished by having different
size cups that were marked for each size pizza made. This simple technique
significantly improved the consistency of the amount of ingredients that were put
on each pizza, no matter who was making it. We use only one cup per
ingredient, as each cup is marked at a different level for each size pizza, so if
you make a 12” pizza you fill the ingredient to the 12” level line. If you make a
16” you fill the cup to the 16” level. Simple, but very effective in reducing overall
ingredient usage by an estimated 15% thus far.
•It is estimated that the improved work organization and layout has reduced
congestion, improved flow and reduced redundancy in movement by at minimum
of 20%..
•Set-up of boxes, accessories and other things has been improved so that the time
from when a pizza is taken from the oven to the time it is boxed and ready for
delivery has been reduced 5-10%. Simple things like having the box ready before
the pizza comes out was done. This planning is now done through a process
where the white copy of the ticket is given to the person making the pizza. The
tickets are kept on a small board off of the work station, in the order they are
received, When a pizza is completed, it is immediately handed to the person
boxing the pizzas who then gets “prepared” for the next order, reducing the
work necessary once the pizza comes out.
During the busy shifts, one less “general person” is needed to complete the
same amount of work.
From the above examples, improved organization, workplace cleanliness, improved
productivity were all accomplished by using lean manufacturing principles and tools.
The changes that have been attained from a few short days of analyzing, planning
and working with the employees and owner has helped this small business owner, in
a highly competitive environment, reduce costs, while improving customer service.
So the next time you go and order a pizza, observe the layout and operation. You
might be able to give a few ideas on how the business can be made “lean” and
more productive, by the use and implementation of lean manufacturing concepts.
Dan Stoelb
Lean Manufacturing Network