Lean Goes Thrift Shopping
Leanovations Works with Ansonia Thrift Shop
to Create Flow and Better Serve the Customer
Business is booming for thrifts stores. A few years ago, it was stylish and trendy to wear vintage clothing, but in today’s economy, it is becoming a necessity. At a time when most retailers have seen a decline in shoppers, second-hand stores are thriving as those who have been laid-off or are worried they are next, turn to less expensive clothing, furniture and household items. Figures for national second hand stores have recently reported that revenues are up over 8%.
As thrift stores are attracting new customers, the need to spruce up the operations, have the ability to turn over inventory quicker, and be able to sort through and process all donations faster to ensure the current trend/seasonal merchandise is available at the right time, at the right quality, and at a valued price. All this adds up to needing a Lean operational excellence approach to meet customer demand.
Leanovations has formed a “Lean Partnership” to teach and coach an Ansonia CT thrift shop, “My Sister’s Place & My Sister’s Attic” which offers quality new or "gently used" clothing, furniture, and household items to the public at discount prices. All proceeds from “My Sister's Place & My Sister's Attic” support Birmingham Group Health Services Inc. The Umbrella program serving women and children affected by domestic violence. Birmingham Group Health Services Inc. (BGHS) The Umbrella program has spearheaded the fight against this epidemic and worked tirelessly to help women and children affected by domestic violence become survivors.
My Sister’s Place realized that they needed to develop a better process for sorting through donations. The goal was to create flow where possible and establishing pull for the product, where flow is not possible. By taking the donations at the receiving door in the back of the facility through their quality control system, into pricing and onto the store floor, there was a lot of waste. The team came up with a goal to establish a “Door to Store” flow concept.
During the Kaizen week, there was the traditional 5-S actions to make sure everything had a place and everything was in its place, and the need to create visual controls to not only engage the staff and volunteers, but also the donors and customers alike. The next process was for the team to establish cells to flow the product through the quality/sorting process. The Kaizen Team studied the value stream for the Clothing Product Line, Household Products, Toys, Books and Seasonal Products. The team implemented assembly cells, which sorted, cleaned, and prepared appropriate product for the store. They created a pull process for pricing the product, reducing rework, delivering through a FIFO lane to the store as customers consumed/purchased the products. Product that used to average 1-2 weeks of lead-time to go from the receiving door to store floor, due to unmanageable piles of inventory and rework loops, has been reduced to 1-2 days. Allowing the thrift shop team of staff and volunteers to ensure the right product, with the right quality, at a valued price is available to the customers at the right time.
To learn more about “My Sister’s Place” and how you may be able to support the Birmingham Group Health Services Inc. (BGHS) and The Umbrella program either through donations, volunteer work or patronizing the store and becoming a regular customer, please go to their website at: www.bghealth.org/my_sister's_place.htm
Leanovations Works with Ansonia Thrift Shop
to Create Flow and Better Serve the Customer
Business is booming for thrifts stores. A few years ago, it was stylish and trendy to wear vintage clothing, but in today’s economy, it is becoming a necessity. At a time when most retailers have seen a decline in shoppers, second-hand stores are thriving as those who have been laid-off or are worried they are next, turn to less expensive clothing, furniture and household items. Figures for national second hand stores have recently reported that revenues are up over 8%.
As thrift stores are attracting new customers, the need to spruce up the operations, have the ability to turn over inventory quicker, and be able to sort through and process all donations faster to ensure the current trend/seasonal merchandise is available at the right time, at the right quality, and at a valued price. All this adds up to needing a Lean operational excellence approach to meet customer demand.
Leanovations has formed a “Lean Partnership” to teach and coach an Ansonia CT thrift shop, “My Sister’s Place & My Sister’s Attic” which offers quality new or "gently used" clothing, furniture, and household items to the public at discount prices. All proceeds from “My Sister's Place & My Sister's Attic” support Birmingham Group Health Services Inc. The Umbrella program serving women and children affected by domestic violence. Birmingham Group Health Services Inc. (BGHS) The Umbrella program has spearheaded the fight against this epidemic and worked tirelessly to help women and children affected by domestic violence become survivors.
My Sister’s Place realized that they needed to develop a better process for sorting through donations. The goal was to create flow where possible and establishing pull for the product, where flow is not possible. By taking the donations at the receiving door in the back of the facility through their quality control system, into pricing and onto the store floor, there was a lot of waste. The team came up with a goal to establish a “Door to Store” flow concept.
During the Kaizen week, there was the traditional 5-S actions to make sure everything had a place and everything was in its place, and the need to create visual controls to not only engage the staff and volunteers, but also the donors and customers alike. The next process was for the team to establish cells to flow the product through the quality/sorting process. The Kaizen Team studied the value stream for the Clothing Product Line, Household Products, Toys, Books and Seasonal Products. The team implemented assembly cells, which sorted, cleaned, and prepared appropriate product for the store. They created a pull process for pricing the product, reducing rework, delivering through a FIFO lane to the store as customers consumed/purchased the products. Product that used to average 1-2 weeks of lead-time to go from the receiving door to store floor, due to unmanageable piles of inventory and rework loops, has been reduced to 1-2 days. Allowing the thrift shop team of staff and volunteers to ensure the right product, with the right quality, at a valued price is available to the customers at the right time.
To learn more about “My Sister’s Place” and how you may be able to support the Birmingham Group Health Services Inc. (BGHS) and The Umbrella program either through donations, volunteer work or patronizing the store and becoming a regular customer, please go to their website at: www.bghealth.org/my_sister's_place.htm
