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Ready for a taste of our behind-the-scenes operations? 

Since our earliest beginnings, Chuckanut Bay Foods has been proud to utilize Lean manufacturing techniques to reduce waste, increase efficiency, and create even more value for you. 

Originally derived in 1930 from the world-class Toyota Production System (TPS), Lean Manufacturing has continued to benefit businesses in hundreds of industries over the years, including our own. The Lean system works relentlessly to eliminate waste from the manufacturing process, making it an ongoing adventure of improving our flow and keeping everyone engaged. 

How does Lean make a difference?

We’ve all seen that famous I Love Lucy episode where Lucy and Ethel are working in a chocolate factory, manning a conveyor belt. The job seems simple: as chocolates roll by, they’re to wrap each one in a paper and place it back on the belt for packaging.

As the conveyor belt rolls, they quickly fall behind, and we see Lucy stuffing her mouth full of chocolates to hide the fact that they can’t keep up!

This episode is a true classic, but we can learn a little about Lean principles here as well…

The goal of Lean is to reduce waste in every step of the manufacturing process – and it’s clear to see that there are lots of inefficiencies going on in Lucy and Ethel’s process. This is where Lean comes in. 

For example, we could streamline Lucy and Ethel’s workspace by making the paper easier to grab, saving them time and effort. Or, we could train them in one Standard Operating Procedure so they wrap each piece in the same way, every time, reducing waste by eliminating sloppy workmanship and allowing them to increase their speed. 

Less is More!  

But what’s our root motivation in implementing Lean in every area of our processing?

It’s YOU, our customer! Every improvement that we make throughout our team is made with you in mind, and our entire team is brainstorming daily about how we can improve your experience.

For instance, our time-saving measures mean we have more time for responsiveness and customer engagement, answering your questions and filling your orders in a quick and prompt manner. And streamlined production means less time waiting for your cheesecake. Because who wants to wait?! 

Our dedication to consistency means that you’ll never have to worry about the quality of our desserts. We’re excited to be able to create better service and more value for you while reducing the resources we use along the way. 

Less waste = more cheesecake goodness. 

Values, Goals, & Practices

Here at Chuckanut Bay Foods, it is deeply important to us that we maintain integrity with our values and goals, as people and as a company. These include:

• Respect for people.
• The endless pursuit of the identification and elimination of waste.
• Striving for FLOW.
• Achieve PULL through our company.
• Keeping everyone actively engaged in the improvement process.

These values and goals are why we started utilizing the Lean business model from our earliest beginnings. As we have grown as a company, so has our Lean practices. As a core part of our production management development, we have built our Quality Program on the Lean principle that quality improves as waste is reduced.

Our daily operations focus on the “6S” – Sort, Straighten, Scrub, Safety, Standardize, and Sustain. Audits are conducted daily by department heads with our staff to ensure the application of the 6S and to find more ways to improve the work area.

We’ve worked hard to implement Lean and create proper flow, maintain organization, and create motion-friendly layouts for our team. Reducing time spent and physical waste means keeping prices low for you – and your cheesecake delivery time quicker than ever!

Real.Good.Teamwork.

There are more benefits to Lean manufacturing than just the processes. Involving our entire team in this standard has had an amazing unifying effect, increasing a feeling of ownership at all levels throughout the company. 

Eliminating waste not only allows us to bring more value to you, our customer, but efficiency goes a long way in reducing stress for our employees as well! When customer satisfaction is prioritized and employee participation is valued, the workplace becomes a place to take initiative in developing better methods. 

Our Lean mission has given our workers a sense of purpose and allowed them to see how much we value them and their opinions. Each member of our team knows that they’re a part of something much bigger than just clocking in and mindlessly working without direction. The motivation to find better, cleaner, smarter ways to do a task is a never-ending challenge – one that our team rises to every day!

Trust us: cheesecake tastes better when it’s made by happy employees.

We call that a win-win!