NUMMI Tour Tale #4: The Pull Gift Shop

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NUMMI Tour Tale #1: Why Fix the Escalator?
NUMMI Tour Tale #2: The Power of Reynolds Wrap
NUMMI Tour Tale #3: The Power of Why

nummiBack to stories about my tour of the Toyota/GM plant in Fremont CA.

The NUMMI lobby has a “virtual” (my term, not theirs) gift shop display of items available for purchase. To buy items, such as hats, pens, or coffee cups, you call a number using a provided phone. In effect, you “pull” items that are delivered to you at the end of your tour. No inventory, other than display items, is kept in the lobby. Tour guests don't have to carry items with them on the tour tram. Seems to work out just fine.

Maybe it would be a more interesting illustration of lean practices to have a small quantity of each item on display, with a working kanban system used to replenish items from their hidden gift shop “supermarket”?

NUMMI Tour Tale #5: Nobody is Perfect


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Mark Graban
Mark Graban is an internationally-recognized consultant, author, and professional speaker, and podcaster with experience in healthcare, manufacturing, and startups. Mark's new book is The Mistakes That Make Us: Cultivating a Culture of Learning and Innovation. He is also the author of Measures of Success: React Less, Lead Better, Improve More, the Shingo Award-winning books Lean Hospitals and Healthcare Kaizen, and the anthology Practicing Lean. Mark is also a Senior Advisor to the technology company KaiNexus.

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