An article in yesterday’s Wall Street Journal looks at Starbucks new experimentation with Lean manufacturing principles.
Under a new initiative being put into practice at its more than 11,000 U.S. stores, there will be no more bending over to scoop coffee from below the counter, no more idle moments waiting for expired coffee to drain and no more dillydallying at the pastry case.
Starbucks says the efforts are already helping its bottom line, as shown by quarterly results last month that beat analysts’ expectations. Still, some baristas fear the drive will turn them into coffee-making automatons and take away some of the things that made the chain different.
Thanks for the link, my friend.
People should also check out the discussion on the Starbucks Gossip blog.
Main points of contention/discussion:
— Does *$ just want to cut labor cost or improve service with freed up time?
— *$ just wants to turn workers into robots (a common fear with lean)
— *$ is normally very top-down, corporate doesn’t listen (would be a barrier to lean)
— *$ is different than a factory, it’s a people business (but lean can still apply, I’d say)
— Tension between standardized methods and “our store is different”
It could be that Starbucks is trying to do lean “the right way.” Or this will be a catastrophe for all time. I’m not on the inside, only time will tell.
Interesting, in Sweden we are in lean since start or you are out of buisness. I think that in the States you can make more dollars if you where looking in to our system, Starbucks now this thats why whey are not in Sweden