Lean Retailing

Book excerpt: If time is money, then being lean is both. Thanks to mega retailers worldwide, lean principles have rapidly spread to a variety of different manufacturers, such as consumer foods, apparel and food/beverage. Over the past few years, these retailers have dramatically changed how they do business in order to stay competitive in the marketplace. How products are ordered, how inventory is moved throughout distribution centers and barcodes vs. RFID technology for inventory management have all been taken into consideration in order to work as swiftly and efficiently as possible. While lean thinking has been rapidly expanding amongst large manufacturers and retailers, there are still a lot of companies that have hardly implemented any lean concepts. At the end of the day lean is about adding value for customers; but how can companies do that while also reaping in benefits for themselves?