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11/23/2009 11:26 AM
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I am currently studying about Lean philosophy as part of my degree and have found it extremely interesting, but now i want to apply it to my job in the Union. I work as a team leader on the bars (3 in total) and truely believe the use of 5S and other lean tools can be adopted to this area. I am planning to start with 5S, including my staff at the first hurdle, by asking for their opinions on; what is needed for their job? What isn't need? (that we currently have lying around) Where stock and other consumables are best kept?
I am also planning on having a Kamishibi board of some sorts. I was hoping to track waste (i.e. drinks mistakes, till errors) with the use of graphs and tables. Once enough data is collected we could set some form of targets. This would NOT be on an individual basis, but as a team effort, as i feel that would be more beneficial. I will have to be clear that this isn't to monitor their inadequacies, but to give us targets to reach and hopefully achieve.
Is this the right way to go about the lean way? and has anyone else used Lean in this environment before?
Any input would be greatly appreciated, and hopefully i shall keep this topic alive as i go through the stages of implemenation.
Thanks in advance,
Jonathon
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11/24/2009 09:51 AM
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Keeping overall track of quality issues *is* a good way to see if you are making any progress reducing the rates, but it is *not* a good way to know what to work on.
Let's look at drinks mistakes, since they are probably easier to detect right away. (I would imagine that till errors don't really show up until the reconciliation at closing time).
As soon as a drink mistake is discovered, the first thing, obviously, is to correct it so the customer has what they ordered.
The best approach to make the correction is to try to repeat, as closely as you can, the original process and see where it is vulnerable to the kind of mistake that was made.
That, then, becomes your point for kaizen and error-proofing effort. Was the wrong ingredient added? Why? Did the bartender think s/he was picking up one and really pick up another? Is there ambiguity about where the bottles belong? How can that ambiguity be eliminated. etc.
Is there a standard sequence for mixing a particular drink? Does the arrangement of things in the bar support that standard sequence, or is it haphazard?
For a group of drinks, is there a standard sequence - say first beer on tap, then simple poured drinks, then mixed drinks,, or something like that?
Now, I have no clue what your actual situation is, or if these questions make any sense at all. I want to be really clear about that.
But these are the kinds of questions to be asking.
The key to quality improvement, though, is the first point: Catch the errors immediately, don't try to go back at the end of the month and figure out how to reduce a rate of errors because all of the information you can act on is long gone.
Individuals vs teams:
Just as aggregating data obscures the "who" it also obscures "when, where and what." Drinks are mixed and served by individuals. Where the teamwork comes in is that the entire team supports each individual to excel at the task. When a mistake is made by an individual, that is because the TEAM did not address some issue, and ANYONE could have made it. It is important to adopt that attitude. This isn't about calling out the "bad apple" it is about constructing a work place where every individual can perform at a high level.
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11/24/2009 12:15 PM
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Jonathon,
I have often used bars as an example of workstation design. Bartenders have to work for hours on their feet at a fast pace, and if the bar is not set up well, they will physically feel it pretty quick. Keeping the bartender happy will make the drinks flow more quickly and with better quality directly to the customer. This kind of situation has been the driver for improvements in bars for hundreds of years. Don't lose sight of what you are trying to do by "implementing lean". Make sure your purpose is clear first, then use the tools appropriate to that, whether it is 5S, waste reduction, ergonomics etc.
This brings me to the Kamishibai board. In my experience, these are used to demonstrate personal discipline. I have a kamishibai board for some of my personal weekly tasks, and find it very helpful to show me where I am at for the week. The cool thing is that it is also very visible to everyone else. Not only can they see my demonstrated discipline, by the fact that they can see it helps motivate me to get these things done. This tool helps me to be more successful. BTW, I had to go through several iterations before my board made sense.
At the end of the day, you have to ask yourself what have you given your team to help them be more successful. My sense, to Marks point, is that charts and graphs in this case is not one of those things. So, what are you going to put on YOUR Kamishibai board to make sure you are doing those things that help your team? Some suggestions:
1. Help one tm initiate an improvement - Daily
2. Take out the trash - Hourly?
3. Check inventory levels - Daily
4. Initiate one safety improvement - Two times per week
5. Place orders for consumables - Daily
6. Check staffing plan for next day - Daily
7. Audit one tm for a random mixed drink - Daily
8. Floor walk to every workstation - Three times Daily
9. Solicit feedback from one customer - Twice Daily
10. Share customer feedback with team - Once Daily
I would start with one item, make your board and indicator cards, and try it out. Good luck!
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12/07/2009 05:16 PM
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Jonathon,
I don't know whether in your particular case it is a problem but my experience learns that one of the biggest challenges is to match supply and demand... How do you plan your staff ? Do you staff for the peaks or is the allocation more flexible. Do you have an idea of the number of served drinks/hour during the opening hours ? Is staffing in line with this demand ?
Does staff understand which added-value tasks can be done in off-peak moments ? Is there a list of activities that they can perform.
How can you keep you customers happy without over-investing in staff ! (this is especially important in Europe where tipping is not common and employee costs are quit high ! In US potential less an issue...).
You could set-up a KPI to measure the staffing cost versus the total revenue. As there is a risk that you would focus to much on the cost-side, you should support this KPI with a second one that measures customers satisfaction....
Additional I strongly belief in documenting how you best make drinks... as there is often a high turn-over in staffing, it is useful to document best practices.
success!
John
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12/08/2009 09:32 AM
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Something that I have noticed at a couple of establishments is at shift change the bar tender coming on duty will re-arrange the bottles to their liking. So when each bartender reports for work they have to move bottles back to where THEY want them.
Two problems here: Excess setups, and no standard work.
And what if someone, such as a manager, is pressed into duty? They would have no clue where things are, since there is no standard setup. Now you get delays, not meeting customer demand, possible quality problems..........
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12/08/2009 04:00 PM
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This column by John Shook and the accompanying article should be very interesting to you:
Starbucks from the Wall Street Jornal
It is about how Starbucks is applying lean to their company.
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05/25/2010 10:42 PM
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I was a bartender in college many years ago; as I reflect on that job now using what little Lean mindset I have to bring to bear, I can think of a few things that stand out.
Customer wait time: why do customers have to wait as long as they do for a fresh drink? There are probably many root causes. The ones that come to mind:
Imbalances in supply and demand (as noted above)]
Batch ordering processes by the wait staff. In order to optimize their own walking time, waiters tend to visit multiple tables in a single pass, then walk to a computer terminal (often waiting in line at the terminal), and then enter several table's worth of drinks. Then more waiting as the bartender preps the drinks, then they carry a precariously overloaded tray of drinks around to all their tables. If you happen to be at the last table, you're going to wait..
Inefficient design of the bartender's work station. The big display of various bottles of "top shelf" liquour behind the bar are cool to look at but getting to the right bottle quickly takes time and effort, for example.
Poorly designed workflow; in many bars the bartender has multiple jobs that are hard to do in parallel. e.g. mixing drinks for bar customers, mixing drinks for waiters, replacing/cleaning ashtrays, cleaning glassware, interacting with customers to take orders/chat, watching customers to ensure nobody "walks" on the check, processing payments, changing TV channels, etc. Its a task-intensive job that has a tendency to require a lot of multi-tasking.
I think, were I to tackle "lean" in a bar environment, I'd start by trying to create a clear view of what customers want. They probably want something like:
- Well-made drinks (mixed & garnished properly, in the proper glassware, at the appropriate temperature, and tasty!)
- Fast and friendly service. I'm sure you could quantify fast (e.g. a drink within 60 seconds, etc.)
- Clean environment (e.g. no empty dirty glassware or full ashtrays, no spilled drinks on tables, etc.)
- Probably some other environmental requirements (comfortable chairs, ambient music/noise, smoke level, etc.)
Then I'd find a way to observe whether each customer is getting what they want and if not, why not. I'd probably spend an evening or two just watching the bar run and taking notes. What portion of customers gets what they wanted? If a customer is waiting for a drink, what do you observe happening that may help identify root cause? If the tables are littered with dirty glassware, why? If the bartenders are making drink mistakes, why? In many cases, the ultimate why may be pretty far removed from what you observe so be careful not to jump to solutions too quickly.
I actually think a night or two of careful observation followed by some focused 5-why sessions with the bar staff would reveal some really simple and easy fixes to true root cause. In my own background, I can think of a few very simple problems that created large impacts in our ability to meet customer's needs.
This would kick-start the staff thinking about how to meet customer needs and how to understand what prevents them from meeting customer needs. I'd avoid a lot of charting and measuring and instead err on the side of engaging the workers in real-world kaizen. One thing that works in your favor is that happy customers tip better; as a result it should be relatively simple to get your staff aligned to improving the customer's experience.
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06/01/2010 11:35 AM
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I love thinking about these opportunities as it affects anyone who ever orders a drink.
I was at the Fox Sports Grill for lunch the other day and saw a manager walking through bar set up with a bartender. It wasn't a new trainee training it was a 'Where would you like your tools set up 5-S disccussion." I could see the bartender start to think about cutting out the waste of movement and getting the right tools and product at the right time to insure customer support in a timely fashion.
Along with the afore mentioned observations, another possible step would be to look at the popular types of drinks and co-locate those...ie Vodka next to Cranberry juice. Also the bartenders could have their own tool belt that included a corkscrew, bottle opener etc to reduce searching time. I believe I saw an article which listed Bartending as among the top most stressful jobs. With everything a bartender has to keep in control its easy for them to feel overwhelmed like Lucille Ball in the Chocolate factory. Furthermore with orders coming from everywhere a look at Hiejunka and level loading your demand may be an opportunity to meet all of your customer orders in a timely fashion.
Just some thoughts as it is Friday before Memorial day and after work today I am going to need a drink Fast! Bob
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01/18/2012 12:34 PM
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Guys
Interested in this discussion as I sit on a committee of a Social Club in the UK who are experiencing some difficulties in the current recession. Would be interested to know what the results of your efforts were.
Some of the problems we have discussed at our monthly committee meeting are; lack of customers coupled with increasing costs, high stock levels (around 12 inventory turns per year), excess variety of brands (?), variable beer costs but same bar prices even for premium beers, waste (we have to pull off a pint and a half from the pipes before at the start of each shift). Some of the issues regarding waiting times are fairly irrelevant for us as we don't have enough customers to make us busy - it will be a nice problem to have!
Steve
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03/20/2012 04:13 PM
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Stephen,
It sounds as though your monthly meetings are asking the right questions around tackling the waste you can see, however how do these align with your customer needs. You have a compelling need to tackle these problems but I fear tackling the problems discussed are for the need of the business and not the customer.
I do agree you need to address these, however are there any more pressing customer affecting issues (apart from price), the waste discussed may affect the price so this could be chicken/egg.
I would be happy to assist with anything if required, please contact me via lee @ leansecrets.co.uk, if the need be
Cheers & Good Luck
lee
www.leansecrets.co.uk
With ref. to the original post, I currently have a large pub chain client with whom I am working with, in a trial branch. Our focus is to try and reduce the time from customer requiring a drink to receipt of it as opposed to customer order to receipt, looking at it this way has highlighted a whole host of opportunities to look at in addition to the processing waste. Potential kanban suggestions have been made, FIFO ordering as opposed to free for all, smart phone app ordering/payment etc
Hope this helps
Lee
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03/22/2012 10:47 AM
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Hi Jonathon,
I have only one advise: Begin with the end in mind. That is, what is the purpose for your lean implementation? Think of that first before you do anything else. Starting with 5S without knowing what to accomplish with it is a bad way for your staff to get introduced to lean.
Develop your goal, see what is preventing you getting there, and then fix it.
A great and inspiring book on exact that topic is Toyota Kata. You will not regret reading that one.
Good luck and when I am around, I will hop in for a bear or two.
Regards,
Bas van den Brink
The Netherlands
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08/09/2012 10:37 AM
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Hi Guys
Well it's taken 6 months, but we have all agreed that there is a problem to be solved. And we have also agreed the first step is a one off release of cash to allow us to purchase more agreeable furniture.
I've now got the stock records and sales figures so hopefully we can get down to business and identify the repeaters, runner and specials.......
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