Amway Kids’ Food Basket Uses Lean to Pack More Meals

Lean in Non-Profit Helps Food Bank Pack More Meals For Hungry Kids

The Kids’ Food Basket serves Kent County, Michigan where at least 14 percent of households with children under the age of 18 live in poverty. Unfortunately, many children do not have access to an evening meal leaving them at a nutritional disadvantage.

The food basket had grown to the point where they were considering a move to a larger space. They believed they could do even more if they could find a way to expand without breaking the budget.

Now retired, former Amway executive, Chris Wilson, was a volunteer at the Food Basket. He had worked with TBM at Amway and asked us to pitch in and help the Food Basket improve their processes to gain more from existing resources with the ultimate goal of being able to help even more children.

This is the story of how we helped them to reduce the time spent to pack a meal and enabled a ten-fold improvement over the old meal assembly process.

Frequently Asked Questions

What was the goal of the partnership between Amway, TBM, and the nonprofit organization?

The goal of the partnership was to use lean principles to dramatically increase the number of meals produced for children facing hunger. The article explains that Amway and TBM partnered with a nonprofit organization to apply operational excellence methods to food‑packing events, enabling volunteers to work more efficiently and significantly expand the organization’s impact without increasing cost or complexity.

How were lean principles applied to improve meal‑packing operations?

Lean principles were applied by redesigning workflows, improving layout and flow, and eliminating inefficiencies that slowed production. The article highlights that by standardizing work and simplifying processes, volunteers were able to pack meals faster, with less wasted motion and confusion. These improvements allowed the organization to scale output while maintaining quality and safety standards.

What broader impact did this lean initiative demonstrate beyond manufacturing?

The initiative demonstrated that lean principles are not limited to manufacturing environments but can be applied effectively in nonprofit and humanitarian settings. The article emphasizes that operational excellence can multiply the impact of volunteer efforts, allowing organizations to do more good with the same resources. By focusing on process improvement, the partnership showed how lean thinking can help address social challenges such as hunger more effectively.