Do You Waste Time Walking to the Printer?
Do You Waste Time Walking To The Printer? by DAVID KESTENBAUM
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All Things Considered
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Efficiency experts try to make factories like this run more smoothly. text size A A A
February 18, 2010
Are you one of those people who pour the cream into the mug before the coffee, so you won't have to stir it? Or maybe you alphabetize your spice rack so you can find the nutmeg easily. If so, there's a job you might be good at: efficiency expert.
Matt LeBlanc, an efficiency expert at a global shipping company, is a kind of special ops guy. His company drops him into its locations armed with a stopwatch, equations and a mission to save the firm hundreds of thousands of dollars.
Recently, he got sent to streamline the company's MP3-player delivery operation in Mexico.
"I have to spend a lot of time in warehouses looking weird, staring at people moving boxes," LeBlanc said. "I see a truck back up, and they open the door, and they have to take all these boxes out, and then they move them and pick them up and put the box in one part."
He timed everything, made some diagrams, put some numbers in equations. He saw that the workers were moving the boxes way more than they needed to. He figured out how to cut the labor costs — in half.
People like LeBlanc are one reason why things are so cheap. If he reduces labor costs, then the price of MP3 players can come down.
Sometimes, the fixes he suggests are pretty simple.
"We also move a lot of printers," he said. "I'm sure you guys have printers in your office ... have you ever thought about why that printer is there, and if it makes sense for it to be there?" Over the course of a career, you might walk miles back and forth.
Not surprisingly, people don't always like when LeBlanc shows up. They don't like to be told they've been wasting time. They worry he might find that their whole job is
Listen to the Story
All Things Considered
[4 min 32 sec] * Add to Playlist * Download * Transcript
EnlargeAndreas Rentz/Getty Images
Efficiency experts try to make factories like this run more smoothly. text size A A A
February 18, 2010
Are you one of those people who pour the cream into the mug before the coffee, so you won't have to stir it? Or maybe you alphabetize your spice rack so you can find the nutmeg easily. If so, there's a job you might be good at: efficiency expert.
Matt LeBlanc, an efficiency expert at a global shipping company, is a kind of special ops guy. His company drops him into its locations armed with a stopwatch, equations and a mission to save the firm hundreds of thousands of dollars.
Recently, he got sent to streamline the company's MP3-player delivery operation in Mexico.
"I have to spend a lot of time in warehouses looking weird, staring at people moving boxes," LeBlanc said. "I see a truck back up, and they open the door, and they have to take all these boxes out, and then they move them and pick them up and put the box in one part."
He timed everything, made some diagrams, put some numbers in equations. He saw that the workers were moving the boxes way more than they needed to. He figured out how to cut the labor costs — in half.
People like LeBlanc are one reason why things are so cheap. If he reduces labor costs, then the price of MP3 players can come down.
Sometimes, the fixes he suggests are pretty simple.
"We also move a lot of printers," he said. "I'm sure you guys have printers in your office ... have you ever thought about why that printer is there, and if it makes sense for it to be there?" Over the course of a career, you might walk miles back and forth.
Not surprisingly, people don't always like when LeBlanc shows up. They don't like to be told they've been wasting time. They worry he might find that their whole job is