Lean ideas often come to those who attend Lean Continuous Improvement/Transformation Summits
Later this evening I’ll be attending the welcome dinner prior to the opening of the Lean Leadership Summit at the Hyatt in Irvine, CA. I’m looking forward to visiting with some long-time Lean colleagues and meeting many new ones. The weather’s great (though the locals say it’s still a bit chilly for them) compared to what we’ve been experiencing in the Chicago area, and so took advantage of this to get in an early morning jog. And maybe came up with a new and innovative business improvement idea for Cintas, the global specialized business services provider.
My exercise route initially took me past a Jiffy Lube store just around the corner from the well-manicured residential Westpark section of Irvine, where a Cintas competitor was dropping off freshly laundered uniforms and picking up a batch of greasy ones. A few minutes later I found myself alongside another one of the many Southern California tech-styled business parks, where a Cintas Document Management division mobile shredding unit (large semi rig) was destroying buckets of confidential documents for one of its customers. And that’s when I came up with my Lean Innovation of the Day.
What if Cintas decided to build and deploy a fleet of travelling laundry units, similar to the mobile shredding vehicles which currently work so well for them? I questioned the driver/operator about my idea and he told me that he wasn’t aware that Cintas might already be doing this, or had any plans to do so.
Well, there may already be a (small-scale, tested?) business model for doing something like this. Perhaps you’ll recall the P&G commercials which aired on the broadcast networks and cable a few months after the Katrina disaster. P&G’s Tide organization helped provide relief (and generate advertising opportunities) by sending out washer/dryer crews to Katrina-affected areas to provide just-in-time, on-site clothes laundering. Would Cintas customers be interested in just-in-time laundering?
What might be the potential advantages for them as well as for Cintas? Would faster turn-around time help reduce the required inventory levels of uniforms? Could the number of trips required for pick-up and delivery be reduced, particularly given the nasty Southern California traffic issues? Might this result in savings of time for customers or Cintas or both? How about a reduction in fuel costs, and not just in California? And what about environmental impact, especially if Cintas were able to significantly down-size or even shut down a number of their central laundry processing sites? Hmmm.
I’m going to give Cintas CEO Scott Farmer a ring this afternoon to pass along my idea. I hope he takes my call. And if he likes what he hears I think I’ve got three potential Lean Six Sigma-trained executive candidates who could get such a project off the ground for him. But, for now, sushi lunch at my favorite Newport Beach hole-in-the wall, where they actually have Japanese sushi maestros creating edible masterpieces.
And that’s the way I see it. Adam Zak
We’re looking for an experienced Six Sigma leader with broad business acumen, global perspective and experience, and the ability to drive, facilitate and sustain change in a fast-paced, highly entrepreneurial environment. 