Charities often rely heavily on volunteers, and the BW Food Pantry was fortunate to have Green Belt Darleen Grandison help them improve their Food Box process. The Food Box process took 20 minutes to pack a box, which limited the capacity of the organization, and risked the loss of volunteers. After Darleen analyzed the process, she applied […]
Watch the keynote presentation from Margarette Purvis, President/CEO of Food Bank for New York City, who provides an update on their Lean improvement work with Toyota (TSSC). Efforts resulted in $3 million in reduced inventory of slow moving food, increased distribution of kosher food by 27%, 86% increase in fresh produce to the poorest neighborhoods, […]
by Brion Hurley The 5th Annual IISE Sustainable Development Division volunteer event took place at the Greater Pittsburgh (PA) Community Food Bank on May 20, 2017. Read about last year’s volunteer event here. A total of twenty-nine (29) conference attendees arrived one day in advance of the IISE Annual Conference, in order to volunteer their industrial […]
A podcast interview with Vanessa Moore, the VP of Programs and Operations at the San Diego Food Bank. They are striving to end hunger in their area by serving over 370,000 individuals every month. Other topics discussed include: How the San Diego Food Bank goes about identifying new ways to create value. How to put […]
One of our most fantastic stories is about our partnership with Trinity Rescue Mission (TRM), and increasing participation in their Lifeline program. After careful study of the program organization and interviews with participants, the project team suggested policy and procedural changes. With TRM’s implementation of these improvements, participation in the Lifeline program increased to 75 […]
Toyota Motor Manufacturing West Virginia (TMMWV) shared their manufacturing know-how and expertise with the Facing Hunger Food Bank in Huntington, West Virginia. The multi-month project was a collaborative effort and now has the food bank poised to operate more efficiently. TMMWV team members helped the food bank’s backpack program increase its efficiency by 600 percent. […]
The North Texas Food Bank was able to increase the number of families served by 60%, thanks to an unlikely new partner: Toyota and their TSSC support group. The North Texas Food Banks’ Our Community Pantry in South Dallas used to be able to serve only 50 people a day on the four days they were open per week. But […]
Just like their for-profit peers, nonprofit organizations, including food banks, deal with a lack of timely deliveries and other logistical complications. Since these problems are just like similar issues that plague warehousing and manufacturing, lean and the Toyota Production System (TPS) are ideal strategies to remove these obstacles. Several years ago, The Greater Boston Food […]
Akron Children’s Hospital provided Lean Six Sigma training and certification of two employees of the Akron-Canton Regional Foodbank. The costs of Six Sigma training, even when nonprofits understand the benefits, tend to rule it out as a process improvement option. At about $6,000 per person, it’s hard to justify when resources are already stretched. The […]
Like many community-service organizations, Trinity Rescue Mission was hurting. It was 2011. The economy had not recovered from the recession. Providing food, shelter and hope for homeless people in Jacksonville was harder than ever. “We needed help,” says Matt Heavener, Trinity’s development director. To Trinity’s rescue came a brainy collaboration of servant leaders and college […]