Weekend Fun: Toast Kaizen or Coffee Kaizen?

I like to do some fun and lighthearted posts on the weekends… a blog segment I call “Weekend Fun” (not so creative, I realize).

An old friend from college posted a funny story on Facebook this morning, which I'm sharing with his permission. My friend has formal Lean Six Sigma training…

His story about the start of his Saturday:

Step 1: order freshly micro-roasted fair trade coffee beans from an SCAA-certified purveyor

Step 2: wake up before my wife

Step 3: burr grind the beans to precision, carefully measure the coffee and water, start the coffeemaker

Step 4: preheat the nice stoneware mugs with boiling water

Step 5: pour coffee, add best guess on half and half and sugar, bring to the wife

Step 6: get feedback: “a little much on the sugar but it's better than Dunkin.”

Forgot the voice of the customer. I've literally recreated the Lean “how to make toast” video.

Ah, “Toast Kaizen.” Such a fun way to learn about waste, process observation, and other Lean concepts… including the “voice of the customer.” For those who don't know the video, we watch Bruce Hamilton make toast for his wife in a very wasteful way. But it turns out he made (we think) the wrong type of toast for her altogether.

As I created back in 2012, situations like my friend's and Toast Kaizen maybe call for these sound effects?

Have a great weekend… Lean or otherwise.