Amazon taps Kaizen to deliver the goods

Amazon is one of the most prominent retailers in the world, handling billions of dollars worth of transactions and delivering millions of products to consumers every year. It goes without saying that Amazon's warehouses are tremendously efficient to handle all of that activity without missing a beat, even in traditionally busy times for retailers such as Christmas.

Much of Amazon's warehouse success is owed to the Kaizen experts that run these operations. As the Financial Times reports, Amazon's warehouses process more than 35 orders per second, so operational efficiency is paramount to getting all these packages out the door. At each distribution center, a continuous improvement manager is assigned to apply Kaizen techniques to various processes and practices to streamline workflow.

In Staffordshire, England, Matt Pedersen is the resident six sigma “black belt.” He told the Financial Times that he walks his warehouse on a daily basis to identify potential wastes and opportunities to improve efficiencies.

“We go to the associates and find out what's stopping them from performing today, how we can make their day better,” Pedersen told the news source. Additionally, Pedersen deploys mobile problem solvers – employees that walk the warehouse with laptops – to assist in the process.

Pedersen notes that Amazon expects a lot from employees – it's a global leader in the ecommerce field and expects its workers to keep up with operations. Ultimately, the use of Kaizen helps employees keep up with the breakneck pace of 35 orders per second.

Retail Kaizen

As the economy continues to improve, consumers across the country are loosening their purse strings and getting more liberal with their budgets. They are going to retail merchants – whether in-store or online – and spending more money on products and goods.

Retailers need to respond in kind to capitalize on this increased spending and reinforce their bottomlines. However, to meet this influx of new orders, retailers need to think critically about their warehouse processes. Warehouse operations need to go smoothly, or else customers may not return for future purchases.

Kaizen practices can help retailers ensure that their warehouses are operating at maximum efficiency. If retailers are concerned about back-end processes holding them back, Lean practices and mindsets may be the solution.