Since the WSJ came out last week with an article about Starbuck’s implementing lean, a lot of people have been expressing dismay at this new development. Known for its friendly baristas who brew your favorite coffee drink with care, Starbucks has embarked on a lean journey that, from the descriptions, looks like it might spoil the customer experience and threaten the very essence of what has made Starbucks unique. Why? Because Starbucks is trying to make its stores run more efficiently. But is efficiency necessarily the enemy of the experience that helped build Starbucks’ business in the first place?

Having enlisted lean expert John Shook and put in place a vice president of lean thinking, Stabucks has a lean implementation team travelling to locations around the country to work with stores on improving efficiency. Is that a bad thing?

If one reads about the methods that are being used such as assembling Mr. Potato Heads while being timed with a stopwatch and revamping the setup behind the counter for efficiency, it seems that the main tool being used is 5S or workplace organization. It is a method of organizing the workplace in order to make opportunities for improvement more visible. An organized workplace helps employees eliminate downtime such as time spent looking for things and helps avoid safety issues and identify bottlenecks. Workplace organization is generally a good way to start, as it gets associates involved in the process and helps them improve their work by reducing the amount of time spent running around and looking for items. However, if 5S is deployed in a top-down Frederick Taylor-esque efficiency manner without genuine input from associates and if the needs of the customer are not kept paramount throughout the process, then lean will be a short-lived experiment that fails, as it will not be sustainable or live up to expectations. One would hope that with the advice of expert John Shook that a poor lean implementation can be avoided. But the descriptions of the efficiency studies sound potentially worrisome. Is Starbucks on its way to becoming just another fast food joint? The best outcome will be sustainable, customer-focused improvement that maintains the customer experience that has built the business while providing a positive financial impact to the company. Customers and of course lean aficionados will be watching closely.