I'm sure most of you are familiar with or have used the Akro blue bins for organizing parts, tools, or a kanban system. The bins are used all over factories and they are used quite often in hospitals (look in the background of episodes of House or Grey's Anatomy and you'll see them, though it normally doesn't look like a Lean kanban system).
A bin with dimensions 5.5″W x 10.875″L x 5″H costs $4.55 from the popular industrial supply house, Grainger. Click the photo on the right for a screenshot (and hit “Back” to return to this page).
That same bin, same dimensions, same manufacturer, same everything can be ordered from a different distributor company that specializes in equipment for laboratories. Guess the price?
A topic I often beat into the ground is that the market sets the price. To have a price, you need a seller and a buyer. I guess, ultimately, we have to say shame on hospital purchasing departments for not being more savvy. I've often recommended to lean manufacturing folks that they should move into healthcare and try to help fix things here. I guess I can extend that invitation to purchasing agents, purchasing managers, and purchasing directors. You don't even need “lean” experience to come in and drive big savings, I'd guess. Come into healthcare. Please.
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Great article Mark. I couldn’t help but compare our prices to those you found at Grainger. At The 5S Store, we have identical bins at only $3.38 each. Together, we can save the hospital industry even more money.
Dave Visco
If you buy one of those gates that you put up to separate two rooms, it will cost you 2-4x from a children’s catalogue than from a pet catalogue. Why? Because we’re willing to spend anything on our children’s safety – the gate is exactly the same.
[…] in 2007, I published a post about the disparity in pricing for blue plastic bins that are often used for Lean “5S” practices or just for general shelf […]