Lean Coffee Episode 1
The First Lean Coffee Talk: Starbucks, Honeywell, Tariffs, and Toyota
In Season 2, Episode 1, we introduce the new name and slightly new format of Lean Coffee Talk, formerly known as Lean Whiskey. Mark Graban and Jamie Flinchbaugh are just as passionate about their coffee beverages as the whiskey. We’ll still talk about lean stuff, ranging from in-the-news to our own topics of choice. In this first installment, Mark and Jamie each have an espresso. Mark from an automated home machine and Jamie’s from a more manual process. In future episodes, we’ll likely get more into the process.
In this episode, we begin exploring the challenges of supply chain risk and dealing with the disruptions of tariffs. Uncertainty is having a huge impact on the economy. We discuss the impact on coffee from Columbia, the Risk Index from the Center for Supply Chain Research at Lehigh, and even Ferris Bueller’s Day Off. We move on to discuss the changes being made at Starbucks. What allowed them to grow may not allow them to stay strong, but then again, there may be some subtle magic in those changes from free refills in store to having your name on your cup.
We explore the deliberate breakup of Honeywell, following in the footsteps of GE. This helps make an organization more focused on customers, value delivery, and the needed operations to make it all work. Is this a trend? If so, there are several reasons we believe it’s a favorable one. We close out the topics with Mark’s Toyota experience during a recent tour seeing examples of raku, or devices that provide comfort or ease for team members.
- SNL 50th feature of Coffee Talk
- Threat of tariffs drive up coffee prices
- Ben Stein on tariffs for Ferris Bueller’s Day Off
- Center for Supply Chain Research at Lehigh’s Supply Chain Risk Index
- Jamie’s IndustryWeek article on Supply Chain Risk
- Starbucks adds in-store free refills and writes names on cups again
- Honeywell breaks itself up, but is still acquiring
- Mark’s TMMK tour and writing about raku
- Podcast feed at LeanCoffeeTalk.com or jflinch.com/leancoffeetalk
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