Waste vs Value

Individual Reaction Paper

Steven Kempton

Lean and Applying Lean to the Supply Chain

In reviewing the outline for this assignment, I decided to read the articles on Lean. I have been in the Supply Chain industry for twenty five years. In those years I have worked for Office Depot, Amazon and Toys R Us. Early in my career, the distribution centers that I worked in focused on continuous improvement. The theme was centered on small things and success was measured by individual performance. Collaboration was nonexistent and many silos existed. The momentum that was gained was quickly lost as preparation for the peak season took top priority. It was not until the last ten years that the concept of “lean” was introduced to me in the supply chain. Adopting lean is not easy. Many companies have tried and many have failed. Some are in various stages. It takes an investment of talent and resources and a commitment from the top of the organization. Lean can only be successful if it becomes part of a culture and that culture must include the employees.

When I read the article titled “Lean Thinking for the Supply Chain” by Bruce Tompkins, the concepts of value and waste hit home with me. This year at Toys R Us, the supply chain organization is adjusting to a new President of North America. From his first day his approach was centered on transforming the supply chain into an organization that adds value. The end result is making our retail stores a place that the customer wants to go and a destination that is stocked with toys. With the transformation under way, we have been looking at ways to eliminate waste. The value added portion of this transformation is a store that has product that the customer wants. The non-value-added parts of the process is the out of stocks, damaged product, missed or late deliveries or standing in a long checkout line. It was clear that the improvement efforts should be on the non-value-added parts. Through a collaborated effort, many...