time while waiting for coffee to drain, and finding
ways to reduce the amount of time each employee
spends making a drink. Starbucks created aIO
person "lean tearn" whose job is to travel the country
visiting franchises and coaching them in lean
techniques made famous by automaker Toyota's
production system.
Store labor costs Starbucks about $2.5 billion,
amounting to 24 percent of its annual revenue. If
Starbucks is able to reduce the time each employee
spends making a drink, the company can make
more drinks with the same number of workers or
with fewer workers. Alternatively, Starbucks could
use this time savings to give baristas more time to
interact with customers and hopefully improve the
Starbucks experience.
Wireless technology enhanced Starbucks' business
process simplification effort. Starbucks district
managers use the in-store wireless networks to run
store operations and to connect to the company's
private corporate network and systems. Starbucks
district managers were equipped with Wi-Fi enabled
laptops for this purpose. Before the in-store wireless
networks were implemented, a district manager
who oversaw around 10 stores had to visit each
store, review its operations, develop a list of items
on which to follow up, and then drive to a Starbucks
regional office to file reports and send e-mail.
Instead of running the business from cubicles in
regional headquarters, Starbucks district managers
can do most of their work sitting at a table in one of
the stores they oversee. The time saved from going
back and forth to regional offices can be used to
observe how employees are serving customers and