Distributors Can Benefit from Lean, Too - Modern Distribution Management

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Distributors Can Benefit from Lean, Too

Benco President Chuck Cohen on building efficiencies.
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Last week, I hung out with hundreds of process improvement experts from the world of manufacturing.  Engineers with pocket protectors.  Lots of talk about six sigma and PDCA.

Surprisingly, it’s been interesting, eye-opening and a whole lot of fun.

The occasion? The 25th annual Association for Manufacturing Excellence conference in Cincinnati, the nation’s top learning opportunity for students of lean thinking and process improvement. As far as I could tell, our six Benco participants were the only folks here from the world of distribution. That’s too bad, because lean and process improvement are as significant an opportunity for distributors as they are for manufacturers.

A little history: The principles of ‘lean’ are a direct descendent from the Toyota Production System, the game-changing manufacturing process that, in the course of a half-century, transformed a small Japanese automobile manufacturer into the world’s leading car company and most respected manufacturer. Because they were developed by a manufacturer, and applied first on the factory floor, lean and continuous improvement hasn’t yet been widely embraced by distributors.

Any distributor would benefit from building a continuous improvement culture – especially now, when the recession has made sales growth a challenge, and efficiency a necessity. Among the case studies presented last week were:  ‘From Purchasing to Partnering’ by Northrup Grumman, ‘The Role of Leadership in Operational Excellence’ by the Milliken Company, and ‘How to Transform Your Culture’ by the Lundbeck Company of Denmark, all topics of interest to distributors. Although we don’t ‘make’ anything, distribution is simply a collection of processes, many of which can be made more productive and efficient through lean thinking.

At Benco, we’ve been on a five-year journey to splice ‘continuous improvement’ into our DNA. We’ve got five process improvement experts on staff, and we’ll have more than two dozen successful events this year. Just two weeks ago, I was pleased to be the champion for an exciting three-day event focused on improving how we measure and then communicate customer satisfaction throughout the organization. In other events, we’ve standardized our warehouse checking stations, streamlined our mailroom, and improved how we manage our inventory. We believe that our success with lean has played a key role in growing our profit more than twice as fast as sales for four of the past five years.

If you’re interested in knowing more about Benco’s continuous improvement efforts, feel free to drop me an e-mail. And don’t be fooled by the word ‘manufacturing’:  Begin your company’s lean journey by attending next year’s AME annual meeting in Baltimore from November 15-19, 2010 (www.ame.org). See you there!

 
Chuck Cohen is the president of Benco Dental Supply Co., Wilkes-Barre, PA, a distributor of dental products and equipment.
 
Read more about Benco’s journey with lean in this MDM article: Lessons Learned on Lean

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