Watching our great moving team from Bouffard Transfer, I learned that improvement principles are, indeed, universal.
- Think outside the box
- Plan the work, then work the plan
- Take care of the big things and the little things will take care of themselves
- Work smarter, not harder
THINK OUTSIDE THE BOX – the refrigerator box, that is…
The frig won’t fit through the door — our obvious choice: remove the door (frig door or front door, your pick).
The non-obvious choice: rotate the frig 90 degrees, where it passes through with 1/4″ to spare.
PLAN THE WORK, THEN WORK THE PLAN
The really heavy office credenza needs to take 3 right-hand turns to get into the office — so our guys figured out how it needs to be laid out in the office before ever starting, and then oriented the heavy dang thing once at the beginning, so it ends up where it needs to be without further fussin’.
TAKE CARE OF THE BIG THINGS, AND THE LITTLE THINGS TAKE CARE OF THEMSELVES
When loading the truck, it’s loaded with an eye to what can be stacked on top of what, and what can’t.
We thought we were done, when one of the movers noticed that there was a bit of room at the very top of the truck asked if we’d like our closets moved also [they have rope strung across the top so we can move them on hangars].
We all trooped into the house, where my family each grabbed 8-12 hangars’ worth of clothes and trooped outside. I was surprised that the movers weren’t right behind us — until I saw that they were carrying 35-40 hangars’ worth – on each hand. JUST when we thought the truck was full of big things and we were done, we were able to load in another 4 closets’ worth of stuff – and save ourselves countless car trips to do it ourselves.
WORK SMARTER, NOT HARDER
The moving guys worked very hard, no doubt about it.
But they also worked smart – lots of verbal cues to make sure that nothing was scratched as it was carried down the curved staircase [watch the top left; bannister on bottom right; tilt up/back/left/right more]; that the guy at the bottom knew when he was on the last stair of the staircase [3 left; 2 left; 1 left; done]; and they weren’t afraid to ask for help if they needed it [did I mention the heavy credenza?].
Working smarter ensured that they had a happy customer, healthy crew, and were able to get to another job when done with ours.
