When Kanban Meets Compassion
Cedar Park's Reveal Resource Center puts operational queuing theory to work serving those in need
In December 2019, I had the privilege of joining several folks from the Job Seekers Network in volunteering at Reveal Resource Center (RRC). Based at Twin Lakes Fellowship in Cedar Park, Texas, RRC strives to "Eliminate physical and spiritual hunger through being the hands and feet of Jesus Christ."
Tuesday's event RRC's food distribution for people in need in the Cedar Park. Coming from a background in business analytics and data operations, I couldn't help but notice the minor miracle of organization that goes into this weekly event. There are several processes and subprocesses at work with seemingly little need for training or direction.
On the demand side, families drive Twin Lakes Fellowship and assemble in the gymnasium for the opening prayer, onboarding and some words of encouragement. There is also a small thrift store open to these families for hand-me-down clothes and coats. From here, families get in their cars and queue up and the entry point to the food pantry staffed by a volunteer acting as a gatekeeper. This is where the queue comes to life.
The supply side of this event was a remarkable exercise in the kanban method of just-in-time production control applied to charitable food distribution. From the entry point, cars are directed to one of three, designated loading zones denoted by bright blue paint. Upon arrival in one of these zones, the "pull" fulfillment process begins.
A volunteer in an expediter role meets the family and determines if they are to receive one box of food or two (depending on family size). The expediter returns to the food distribution table and directs runners (volunteers who load and push carts) to pull one or two boxes of food for the given vehicle from the loading point. The loading point is a remarkable confluence of three different pull processes: standard box load out, eggs/dairy and meat. The box queue is staffed by volunteers to fill boxes with a standard load out of grains, vegetables, non-perishables and desserts. 10-15 boxes are in queue at one time. The dairy/egg and meat queues have their own staffs of volunteers shuttle back and forth to refrigerators and freezers to pull perishables as needed.
When a family car arrives, the queue facilitators (volunteers behind the tables for the three, aforementioned queues) pull together their wares in a single box before loading onto the carts.
Then runners push their carts to the vehicles for loading and release.
As a car leaves, the process iterates again when a volunteer releases the next vehicle from the car entry point. In between loading iterations, subprocesses for empty crate clearing and materials reloading occur.
"Marla" a fellow volunteer and one-time recipient of RRC assistance told me they can process up to 400 vehicles in a 3 hour time frame. I am pretty sure Taiichi Ohno, an early pioneer of the kanban method of just-in-time manufacturing, would be gratified to see his ideas put to great effect serving the needy in Central Texas.
Postscript
Another remarkable aspect of the RCC food ministry is the sheer quantity of food they gather every single week. The building is bursting at the seems with food and goods donated by local grocery stores and private individuals. I have driven by Twin Lakes Fellowship thousands of times on my daily commute. The drab, 1980's era buildings do not do justice to the incredible work going on there. As I left the food pantry, with my volunteer box of food in hand, the story of Jesus feeding the 5,000 sprang to mind:
"As evening approached, the disciples came to him and said, “This is a remote place, and it’s already getting late. Send the crowds away, so they can go to the villages and buy themselves some food.”
Jesus replied, “They do not need to go away. You give them something to eat.”
“We have here only five loaves of bread and two fish,” they answered.
“Bring them here to me,” he said.
And he directed the people to sit down on the grass. Taking the five loaves and the two fish and looking up to heaven, he gave thanks and broke the loaves. Then he gave them to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the people. They all ate and were satisfied, and the disciples picked up twelve basketfuls of broken pieces that were left over.” - Matthew 14:13-20