Lean Systems

Lean systems maximize the value of company activities by removing waste and delays from processes. In the past, lean systems were thought to be almost exclusively utilized in the manufacturing industry. However, modern restaurants, which fall in the service industry, utilize aspects of lean systems such as the pull method of workflow as well as holding a just-in-time (JIT) philosophy.

The pull method of workflow is a method that follows a lean system in which customer demand activates the production of a service or item. In the case of Havana Central, this means that a cook will only begin producing a meal when they receive a customer order from a waiter, whether it be a duplicate slip of a customer’s order on the waiter’s notepad or received via an electronic POS system.
This “dupe slip” serves as a kanban, which is a Japanese word that means “card” or “visible record”, that allows the pull method to operate efficiently. The kanban controls the workflow as no order will be worked on unless the appropriate kanban is present, thus eliminating waste by overproduction.

Quality at the source is an aspect of lean systems which reflects that the quality of products is not only measured at the end of the production, but at every stage throughout the process by the individual responsible for that stage. Jidoka is a principle which defines that a process will be automatically stopped if something is wrong and the problem will be fixed at that point. Havana Central prides themselves on quality, and whether it be the cook, server, or customer that determines there is a product defect, the product will be fixed immediately at that stage of the process. 

Holding a just-in-time philosophy, removes waste via excess inventory by eliminating unnecessary capacity, as well as removes unnecessary, non-value-added activities in operations. Havana Central has multiple deliveries per week, on Mondays and Thursdays, in order to maintain low levels of inventory, thus reducing excess inventory waste due to spoilage and exposing any potential issues that holding overly large amounts of inventory may mask. Inventory levels are frequently monitored in order to modify orders so that par levels of inventory are maintained throughout daily operations up until the next scheduled delivery.