‘Lean’ lifts

There are examples of 'Lean' everywhere you look

I have just been to Berlin for a conference and stayed in an hotel in the old Eastern part of the city.  You could conceivably expect the hotel to be a little old fashioned but no it was very modern including a very quirky but ‘lean’ lift.  For safety and security the lift would only work with your room key but the best bit was that when you swiped your key it automatically took you to the correct floor, no need to press any buttons.

And that for me is one of the essences of lean, removing unnecessary activities (aka ‘waste’) and ensuring a “right first time, every time” approach (aka ‘poke yoke’ – error proofing).

Sadly one of the ‘unintended consequences’ (see a previous blog) was that when it came to meeting up with my colleague who was staying on a different floor, the only way to meet up was in the hotel lobby as I couldn’t get to his floor or vice versa.

Inage credit: daryl_mitchell via flickr