The document summarizes key lessons from lean thinking sessions over the past two weeks. It recommends productivity tools like 5S and Kanban boards. It then recaps a class simulation where the group inherited a broken value stream. Through changes like reducing transportation waste and adding workers to bottlenecks, they increased process deliveries from 17 to 78 while improving customer delivery times and doubling staff satisfaction. Revenues jumped from $2,800 to $13,000, showing how lean improvements can boost profitability by reducing waste and increasing velocity.

1. Ashley,Corrin,Kyley,Akiko,Atsuyo,Kyiesha,Trevor,Owen,Abby,Paul,Kelly,David,StephandJocelyn,
Thanksfor yourenthusiasticparticipationinourleanthinkingsessionsoverthe pasttwoweeks. Ihope
youenjoyedthemasmuchas I did. We coveredmanymanufacturingconceptsthatwill helpyouscale
your businesses. Inaddition,Iwantto take a minute toremindyouof a few productivitytoolsthat
anybodycan applyto theirdailyroutine:
 Five S – Sort, Set in Order, Shine, Standardize and Sustain. Organize your computers, workstations,
etc. to reduce the amount of reaching or searching for critical objects
 Theory of Constraints – As entrepreneurs, there’s a very high probability YOU arethe bottleneck in
your business. Think like an F1 pit crew (Set-up Reduction Time) - separate items that can be
delegated to staff or service provider, run work in parallel where possible, remove or reduce
activities that don’t deliver tangible value to your customer or your business
 Kanban Boards – Divide your to-do list into three categories – to-do, doing and done. Each morning
prioritize all to-dos. Limit the tasks moved into the doing category to a fixed number that you can
realistically accomplish that day. At the end of the day move completed tasks to done category, add
new tasks to to-do category. Reprioritize and repeat.
Here’sa quickrecap of the class simulation. Youall inheritedabadlybrokenvalue streamandmade the
followingchanges:
 Changed the working configuration (reduced transportation waste) freeing up logistics people to do
other work
 Combined pricing and transportation manager roles and added workers to the pricing bottleneck
(theory of constraints/takt time)
 Simplified escalations (transportation waste and waiting)
 Warehouse manager laid out inventory on the table in a grid (visual management) allowing
production team to see and react quickly to low inventory points
 I think it was Steph who raised the idea of having production hold similar orders and run them as a
batch. There are pros and cons for batching but I thought you all might be interested in this article
that Kyeisha sent me. https://www.google.com/amp/www.geekwire.com/2017/fashion-focused-
amazon-wins-patent-demand-apparel-manufacturing/amp/ This is a great example of technology
and lean thinking to disrupting the status quo.
Andhere are the resultsof yourimprovements:
 Process - Deliveries increased from 17 to 78 with only two taking more than 10 minutes in the
second round. Look at the difference in the histograms in the lower left corner of the charts. Much
faster, much more consistency!

2.  Customer – Delivery times improved so much that a new issue, Quality, has jumped to the top of
customer issues. This relates to blemishes found on some of the sheets (picture below). If we had
more time we would have covered this in defect reduction section.
 People - Productivity (deliveries per person) jumped from 1.4 to 6 while staff satisfaction nearly
doubled. We’ve seen this over and over in real life. Low productivity is often accompanied by low
morale.
 Finance – Revenues jumped from $2,800 to $13,000! Operating income was just short of
breakeven. Reducing work in process just a few more orders would have generateda profit. If we
ran one more round I’msure you would have made significant increases in velocity resulting in
substantial improvements in profitability, customer and staff satisfaction
It’snot as easyto make these kindsof changesinthe real world,butI hope youcan see how cycle-time
reduction,processingcapacity,laborproductivityand,ultimately,customerandemployee satisfaction
are all linked. Eachincremental improvementreleasesvaluable resource andhelpsprofitability. It’s
worththe effort!