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| Lean Logistics Team - Takes a Break |
The logistics team at Artisan doubled in size in the first quarter, growing from two people, Ruth Ann
and Marie Hucal, to four. We were delighted to add Marcia Higgins and Jonathan Miller to the team. We quickly learned, however, that many of our systems that worked fine when it was two people, no longer worked so well with four. Especially as we worked to get samples out the door in a timely manner, we could tell change was needed. In May 2025 we launched our first KAIZEN project.
"KAIZEN" is a Japanese word that has worked its way into the mainstream vocabulary for anyone
working in manufacturing, anyone who has worked in operations management and a wide circle of others. It means "change for the better" or "continuous improvement" and is pronounced:
kai·zen /ˈkīz(ə)n,ˈkīˌzen/
IN MAY we started by getting our four logistics team members together - probably for the first time! Ruth Ann presented the definition of Lean and the 12 steps of Kaizen. We tried a fun numbers exercise and found that our team members are 235% faster at circlingn numbers in sequential order when numbers are arranged in order, uniform size, large size and not clear (not blurry). We started to see that different team members have different strengths and weaknesses and that's a good thing!
Our second meeting focused on BRAINSTORMING our chosen process for improvement: Receiving Pre-ship Samples from Origin. To kick off this meeting we had to review key rules for brainstorming:
- No bad ideas
- Capture everything
- Allow time for people to think
- Focus on quantity - get LOTS of ideas.
The brainstorming ends with narrowing the many ideas into a few, and then the team basically votes to choose just 3 or 4 areas for focus. Ours were:
- A new system for sample storage bins
- Create a new work station designed and dedicated to sampe preparation
- Revised labels for all types of sample bags
- New system for capturing and calculating the pre-ship quantities needed
- Implementing a KanBan system to minimize the chance we would run out of supplies
- Creating a centralized sheet for naming our coffees
IN JUNE, the team met while Ruth Ann was in Rwanda. They shared with each other their progress on KAIZEN projects. Each team member received feedback and was able to move forward with their action plan.
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| Marie welcomes boxes of pre-ship samples. |
Finally in AUGUST we could begin the wrap up. It was suprising how each area, whether it was a new sheet for coffee names or a new system for storage bins, brought up long discussions on communication, documentation, and possibities that seemed endless.
In SEPTEMBER we were able to bring to conclusion each segment of the KAIZEN project to improve the process for Receiving Pre-ship Samples from Origin. Overall, we believe we've cut at least 12% off the time it takes to process a pre-ship sample. But more important than that, we've started to measure the time various tasks take. Once we understand how much time is required, we've become better at finding ways to become more efficient.
Measuring time for tasks like sample preparation also helps all team members set realistic expectations. Realistic expectations reduces frustration.
The effort to improve processes also clarified the need for written Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs). Now we have written SOPs for tasks that previously created friction and frustration.
The most visible results of our KAIZEN project are
- the new sample preparation work-station
- the new sample storage bin system
- the KanBan system with it's cards and boards for tracking WHEN something needs to be re-ordered, if it's been ordered and when it's in stock again.
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| Marcia with the new sample storage system. |
In case we have any Japanese readers out there, the hiragana letters are as follows:
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| Proudly showing the new sample prep work station - everyone participated! |
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| Jonathan is one of our KAIZEN champtions! |
