Title: Lean implementation in traditional distributor warehouse - a case study in an FMCG company in Indonesia

Authors: Elia Oey; Maulana Nofrimurti

Addresses: International Business and Management, School of Business and Management, Bina Nusantara University, Jl. KH Syahdan No. 9 Palmerah, Jakarta Barat, Indonesia ' International Business and Management, School of Business and Management, Bina Nusantara University, Jl. KH Syahdan No. 9 Palmerah, Jakarta Barat, Indonesia

Abstract: Warehouse is a crucial part of firms' logistic system and plays an important role in delivering products from manufacturers to end consumers. Lean principles originated from manufacturing practice can be adapted to warehouse environment to enhance its productivity. The study was based on a multinational fast-moving consumer goods in Indonesia which relied on small and medium enterprises (SME) as their intermediaries to distribute its products throughout Indonesia. Lean warehousing techniques were used as a practical tool to introduce a good and efficient warehouse practice for its distributors. As a standardised framework for its distributors, the company introduced three stages for lean warehouse implementation, i.e., 'create stability', 'create flow', and 'make flow' in the warehouse. Implementation was done for the first two stages in one pilot distributor, resulting to 26% increase in picking productivity and a more balanced warehouse operation. Result will be used as a baseline and show-case for further implementations to the rest of its distributors.

Keywords: lean warehouse; distributors; 5S; waste; value stream mapping; muda-mura-muri; Indonesia; visual management; create stability; create flow; make flow.

DOI: 10.1504/IJPMB.2018.088654

International Journal of Process Management and Benchmarking, 2018 Vol.8 No.1, pp.1 - 15

Received: 17 Feb 2016
Accepted: 06 May 2016
Published online: 14 Dec 2017 *

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