Contrary to what some people think, adopting lean in a high-technology environment isn’t just possible; it’s essential. Just ask Marc Onetto. The former SVP of Operations and Customer Service at Amazon pioneered the application of lean management in retail distribution at the company. He asserts that lean reinforced Amazon’s “customer-centric” culture, which has been the foundation for its success. He’ll describe how Amazon applied lean to identify and eliminate muda for the customer, from how it built the website to how it fulfills orders.
He shares how lean helped build the Amazon Customer Excellence System (ACES), which drives the delivery of continuous innovation at the retail juggernaut, and how it:
- Opened the door to autonomation in the fulfillment center, facilitating the adoption of robotics to eliminate muda
- Improved customer service by helping to reduce the number of screens for a customer service agent to navigate in order to respond to a customer query from 29 to eight
- Promoted a customer-centric focus on the fulfillment center shop floor
- Helped achieve “the ultimate muda elimination” (you’ll have to attend to hear THAT story!)
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