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Forty Parents in a Queue — Simple Lessons in Flow

7 min read Bert Claesen

This is a machine-assisted translation from the original Dutch version.

Big Words, Big Machines, Big Waste

Do you have expensive machines sitting still? Are your best people always too busy? Do you work in city services and see long lines all the time? Then this post is for you.

Consultants love to use big words for these problems: repetitive work, cycle time, takt. But most of the time, it's just common sense. With a few simple but powerful ideas, you can get started right away.

We'll go through a simple example, and then I would love to hear from you, on which improvement you are tackling next.

Summer Camp Sign-Up

Yesterday, I dropped off my oldest daughter at summer camp. When we got there, we were waiting in line to check in. You know the drill: say hello to the camp leaders, hand over some spending money and her phone, give them the medical form and ID card.

You have probably stood in a line like this before. Your biggest frustration was also a lean lesson: why doesn't the person in front of me already have their documents ready? Now we are waiting for something that could have been done earlier.

This example is exactly what happens with your bottlenecks. In this case there were two camp leaders doing the check-in and about 40 kids to sign up.

Waste and Waiting

For each check-in the steps were simple:

  • Find the child on the list and mark them as present
  • Take the medical form and ID card
  • Put the medical form and ID card in (separate) envelopes
  • Take the spending money
  • Write down the amount next to the child's name
  • Put the spending money in the cash box
  • Ask the child to put their phone in the phone bucket

One minute and you are done. If ten parents are in line, the wait is about ten minutes.

To keep things simple, let's focus on just two tasks:

  • Find the child on the list
  • Take the medical form and ID card

Observations — What You See

In your own workplace you would now observe the process. You step back and take notes:

  1. A long line forms and splits at the end.
  2. A second line seems to form at the second table. People look unsure about which line to use.
  3. Looking up the name always starts from the top of the page. It is done by last name. Even though the counselors know most of the kids by first name.
  4. When asked for the medical form, 40% of parents have to open a bag or suitcase and search. 60% already have it ready.
  5. The counselors often chat with the parents.

Improvements

This is a very simple process, used only about three times a year. So we will skip "one change at a time" here1. You will also notice we do not measure the cycle time.

What I want to point out: this is the first contact with customers. The goal is to give people a better experience. It is not about saving money.

So we keep the chat (from note 5). Parents get to talk to the camp counselors, ask questions, and feel welcome. In your own business, make sure you do not remove value just to save costs.

What about the lines and wait time? The answer is simple: one line that splits at the end. This way you work first-in, first-out (FIFO). Parents at the front of the queue, then go to the first available table. This is what you want for most processes. The tables pull from the line (the "inventory" of people waiting to be helped). They just take the next person and the line moves forward. The choice is clear: use one line.

Use visual management with whatever you have to show where the line goes. Like at an amusement park or airport security. "Wait behind the line." The result: people who arrive first never watch with envy as others go ahead (everyone has somewhere to be, right?). Then again, tests in supermarkets show that people like to feel in control2.

Another choice: split the tables by alphabet (use signs). This cuts down the search time in the list. But think about the flow of parents and kids. Often there are better options. For example, mark clearly where the letters change — like in a dictionary. The leaders can search faster. This also stops people from going to the wrong table.

Free up time (for more chat, or shorter lines) by looking at the cycle on your bottleneck. Counselors often have to wait while parents dig for an ID card in their bag. If you can help people have their documents ready before they reach the table, you win time back. In this case they are customers, but you can still help them: use visual aids, remind them in the email, and call out between check-ins that people should get their papers ready.

In your own processes you have more control:

  • Find out which steps must happen at the bottleneck. Do the other steps beforehand. This is part of your balancing work. Taking these steps out of the bottleneck improves cycle time and often throughput too.
  • Do the same for side tasks. If you see that the two tables need to interact a lot (for example, getting change to give back money), move that work out of the cycle. Have someone else make sure there is always enough change.

In Short

I used a lot of big words after all. But common sense helped us to:

  • Always start by observing the process
  • Put the customer experience first
  • Decide between improvements we just do and things we need to measure carefully
  • Use one line for best FIFO flow
  • Move unnecessary work away from the bottleneck

And do it all in a practical way: use what you have, use visual triggers for customers and workers, and you can often make your processes simpler with the tools you already have.

Good luck with your improvement. Let me know what you are proud of — send me an email or connect with me on LinkedIn.

Footnotes

  1. We would typically recommend you only make one (significant) change at a time, so you can be sure to attribute the changed KPIs to the change you made in the process. ↩

  2. Colruyt stopped using snake lines at the checkout (Het Nieuwsblad, 30/3/2011 (NL)) ↩