How owners can incorporate Lean business practices toimprove customer experience, culture and more

1. The Lean
Garden Center
How owners can incorporate
Lean business practices to
improve customer experience,
culture and more
MARK GRABAN

2. LEAN HEALTHCARE

3. LEAN MANUFACTURING

4. My Part-Time Job in Livonia, MI

8. What is Lean?

9. Lean is a set of concepts, principles and
tools (thinking) used to create and
deliver the most value from the
customer’s perspective
while consuming the fewest resources,
and by engaging people in
continuous problem solving.
Text and image © Lean Enterprise Institute, used with permission

12. TOYOTA PRODUCTION SYSTEM
Organizational Culture
An Integrated System
© 2015, Toyota Production System Support Center, Inc. (“TSSC”)

13. What is the TPS Philosophy?
Customer first
People are the most valuable resource
Continuous improvement
Shop floor focus

14. “It’s the responsibility of
leaders to provide a
system in which people
can be successful.”
• Darril Wilburn

15. LEAN RETAIL

16. LEAN COFFEE

17. Local Improvement
Standardized Work
Workplace Layout

18. 5S

19. LEAN
WINE BAR

20. “That’s just me being lazy”
KAIZEN

21. LEAN FARMING

22. THE LEAN GARDEN CENTER

23. START
WHERE?

24. “Start from need.”
“most pressing needs”

25. “What problem are we
trying to solve?”
What opportunities
do we have?

26. Problem: Wage Pressures
•View labor as a resource, not a cost
•Reduce waste
•Reduce turnover

27. Opportunity: Poised for Growth
•Standardized work
•Improve training
•Continuous improvement system

28. START

29. Find
Discuss
Implement
(Test)
Document
Share
The Daily Kaizen Process

30. WHAT BUGS YOU?
•Safety
•Sales
•Gross margin
•Labor productivity
•Customer loyalty
HELP REACH GOALS

32. Metal display tables
aren’t very stable
Build some rustic wood
display tables for the center
of the store
Sally11/23
Nicer display
Charlie & Debbie,
Josh?

33. Gift shop area looks
dark and dated with the
brown faux finish paint
Paint the walls white / cream
Sally11/20
More modern look
Increased sales?
Charlie & Debbie

35. 1 2 3 4

36. 90% Something
Implemented
Nothing Implemented

37. Employees have a lot of
ideas, but we lose track of
them
Put up an “Idea Board” to
capture ideas (and remind us
to follow up)
2/20 I.M. Owner
More improvement
more engagement, better results
Manager, team

39. The 80/20 Rule
(SEK 8.0 million)
(SEK 1.0 million)
(SEK 1.5 mil)
2 Major Projects
5 Minor Projects
1,720 Small Ideas

40. The Good Jobs Strategy

41. Low store sales
and profits
Poor operational
execution
Low quality and/or
quantity of labor
Low labor
budgets
The VICIOUS Cycle
of Retail
SOURCE: PROF. ZEYNEP TON

42. Operate
with
slack
Cross-train
Fewer
SKUs
Standardize
& Empower
THE GOOD JOBS STRATEGY
INVEST IN
PEOPLE
SOURCE: PROF. ZEYNEP TON

43. The RIGHT Staffing Levels
“For every $1 increase in
payroll, a store could see a
$4 to $28 increase in
monthly sales”
• Marshall Fisher, Serguei Netessine, and Jayanth Krishnan

44. High store sales
and profits
Good operational
execution
Good quality and/or
quantity of labor
High labor
budgets
The VIRTUOUS Cycle
of Retail
SOURCE: PROF. ZEYNEP TON

45. THE LEAN GARDEN CENTER
Long-term profitability
Changing with the times
Loyal employees and customers

46. “When ideas are heard and
acknowledged, it brings out
the best in employees…”

47. “Management should create an
environment in which employees
feel free to express their ideas
about how things might work better,
look better, feel better, etc.”

48. “This is not telling managers
how to do their job.
Just be open to the
input of ideas.”

49. THANK YOU!
Mark@MarkGraban.com
Slides & More:
www.MarkGraban.com/GardenCenter
MARK GRABAN