Planet Lean: The Official online magazine of the Lean Global Network
How we slashed waiting times for our customers

How we slashed waiting times for our customers

Zsolt Moczik
July 23, 2018

VIDEO INTERVIEW – A store manager explains how a simple kaizen reduced waiting times for customers who want to return products. We use today’s video to launch our Lean Improv contest.


Words: Zsolt Móczik, Deputy Store Manager, Praktiker Hungary


As a company, we want to make it easy for our customers to return products, should they wish to do so. So, when our transformation started, shortening the time it took them to return items quickly became a lean project at one of our stores in Budapest.

By observing the process, we realized that our Information Desk staff (those who in contact with customers returning products) wasn’t equipped to effectively and swiftly answer the query. They didn’t have the information they needed in order to make an informed decision on whether a product could be returned (if it’s been used, for instance, we don’t take it back), and as a resulted they used to rely on the salesperson from the area the product originally came from.

Not only did this mean a long wait for our customers, but also that our salespeople spent a staggering 51 days a year walking back and forth from their areas to the Information Desk, just to complete a process that other staff could have done… given the right information.

Take a look at this video to learn how we fixed the problem.


THE AUTHOR

Zsolt Móczik is the Deputy Store Manager of a Praktiker store in the outskirts of Budapest

Read more

Here is the proof that kaizen leads to real innovation
February 22, 2018
Here is the proof that kaizen leads to real innovation

NOTES FROM THE GEMBA – If you need proof that kaizen leads to real innovation, look no further than AIO. This French Tech company that reinvented itself as a karakuri kaizen coach.

Continue reading
The story of the lean transformation of a crane manufacturer
July 6, 2016
The story of the lean transformation of a crane manufacturer

NOTES FROM THE GEMBA – In the past 15 months Terex Cranes has successfully initiated a lean transformation. Follow Catherine Chabiron on her gemba walk to see what this large company is doing to put learning at the heart of its activities.

Continue reading
The power of jeans - Part 2
February 8, 2024
The power of jeans - Part 2

FICTION – In the second and final part of this story, the main characters discuss in front of a board. If you regularly use visual management, their conversation will resonate with you.

Continue reading
CI&T: lean as a way to develop leaders and manage growth
May 3, 2017
CI&T: lean as a way to develop leaders and manage growth
CI&T lean thinking agile

INTERVIEW – CI&T is a very successful Brazilian IT and software engineering company that has found in lean thinking a way to build on its agile work while better approaching leadership development.

Continue reading

Read more

No items found.