Planet Lean: The Official online magazine of the Lean Global Network
Making hoshin work for our lean hotel

Making hoshin work for our lean hotel

Amalia Vidal Vasquez
October 25, 2018

VIDEO - The director of a hotel in the Canary Islands explains the organization's hoshin efforts and shows us the lean visual management boards she uses to track progress and highlight problems.


Words: Amalia Vidal Vásquez, Hotel Director, Dreamplace Hotels & Resort - Tenerife, Spain


When we first started using hoshinkanri, our coaches from the Instituto Lean Management told us that all the indicators we would ever need can be found on strategy deployment board, and that we would be able to use it to control everything going on in the hotel. Needless to say, I didn't believe them.

Little did I know that one year down the line we'd see the impact of this visual approach so clearly. Our way to assess our progress, tackle problems and, more in general, do things has changed so much! Critically, hoshin kanri has allowed us to bring together the improvements coming from the front line (you should see how many A3s we produce) with the business-wide strategic problems we need to solve if we are to stay successful.

Some parts of the hoshin have come more natural to us than others. For instance, we particularly struggled with the idea of "delivery", something that is hard to interpret in an environment like a hotel (where the delivery happens in the real time, in front of the customer). But we have stuck to it, and the results are starting to show.

Check out the video below (if you can't see subtitles, make sure you press the CC button) to learn more about our hoshin. In a few weeks' time, we will share another video showing you our daily management system and explaining how it interacts with our hoshin board.


Amalia Vidal Vásquez is the Director of the Hotel Tigotan Playa de las Americas in Tenerife

Read more

Lean government: how UK courts and tribunals are changing
July 9, 2015
Lean government: how UK courts and tribunals are changing
hmcts lean government england

CASE STUDY - HM Courts & Tribunals Service has been using lean ways of working for over six years, learning many lessons along the way and achieving some fantastic wins.

Continue reading
A3 problem solving to develop Ohio’s school leaders
September 16, 2016
A3 problem solving to develop Ohio’s school leaders

INTERVIEW – A program that aims to help disadvantaged school districts in Ohio used A3 thinking to teach principals how to scientifically solve problems together with their teachers. We met a principal and one of her teachers.

Continue reading
Simplicity sells
August 23, 2024
Simplicity sells

FEATURE - Presenting the key concepts in her latest book, the author tells us how to escape the feature frenzy trap and build products customers love.

Continue reading
The deep secret of lean transformation: the People Review
January 26, 2024
The deep secret of lean transformation: the People Review

FEATURE – To develop a lean culture means to develop each lean thinker and help them reach their full potential. Here’s how Aramis Group does it.

Continue reading

Read more

No items found.