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Students receive their book lists in alphabetical order.

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New shelves and digital tags at The Cornell Store make finding needed textbooks easy.

When Pat Wynn, executive director of Campus Life Enterprise Services, walked into The Cornell Store at the start of the fall 2013 semester and saw more than a third of the store’s prime retail space overtaken by giant, textbook-filled, industrial-gray shelving units, she vowed, “Never again.”

Wynn’s response would lead not only to a complete revamping of how the store sells textbooks, but also to a rethinking of the store’s entire retail and online businesses.

That semester, Wynn gathered Cornell Store leadership and key campus stakeholders to examine the textbook-selling process. With the guidance of Kathryn Burkgren, senior director of organizational and workforce development, and other consultants and with the input of Cornell Store staff, they used the Lean process-improvement tool to analyze how textbooks were handled and to develop a way to streamline it.

Before the new process was implemented, “We followed a five-page checklist that involved nine employees, and each book was touched multiple times before being sold,” said Christopher Cave, academic materials manager. “Now, the checklist is two pages and involves only four employees, and books are touched once.”

Cave described some of the old process: Textbooks that had been ordered (generally about 120,000 units per year) were delivered to the warehouse. There, the boxes would be opened, books taken out, counted against the invoices and shelved according to class. The shelving units were transported to the store, which in the meantime had rearranged merchandise to make room. Once the shelves were in place, books would be straightened and recounted, and signs for each class posted. Unsold books were reboxed and sent back to the warehouse along with the shelving units.

Now, books come from the publisher to the warehouse and are received based on packing slips and then sent directly to the store and shelved alphabetically. This new receiving process limits the handling of books. At the end of the rush, textbooks stay on the shelves until unsold stock is returned to publishers, Cave said.

The savings are substantial. Old shelving units took up a third of warehouse space, standing empty for most of the year; now, that room is used for holding online orders. Rush periods require fewer temporary workers at the warehouse, resulting in an estimated $26,000 in savings annually.

Grouping books alphabetically also saves on floor space, and shelving them around the perimeter of the store gives prime retail space to clothing, gifts and supplies. A store-run book rental program – not possible with the obsolete cart-shelving system – is now available for more than 60 percent of all titles.  

“While we have seen significant savings, even more important is the increase in our ability to serve our customers,” said store director Fred Piccirilli. “One efficiency led to another, and now our staff have learned to look for other efficiencies.”

The store also has taken advantage of students’ preference for online shopping. Students login to see their official Cornell booklist with all materials, along with cost comparisons to other retailers. They can order those books online and pick up the order, already compiled, at the Cornell Store.

“Thirty percent of our customers shop on the website ahead of time,” said Cave. The Cornell Store currently offers eBooks online and by next fall, the store expects to offer a much larger number of e-books for purchase online and in-store than it currently does.

“Now that we have developed a culture of continuous improvement, change is ongoing,” said Piccirilli.

Wynn said: “We look and operate much more like a retail store than a book repository. We now offer a greater selection of apparel, a wider range of technology and more school supplies. And the efficiencies we’ve gained have freed up our staff to spend their time not on checklist tasks but on enhancing our customers’ experience.”

The Lean process, which has been used for several years across campus to boost efficiency, fits with President Elizabeth Garrett’s call to lessen administrative burden. She has asked the leaders of the central administration, colleges and units to submit to her by Dec. 15 a plan to reduce administrative costs and increase efficiencies. For more information on the Lean process, visit the Organizational and Workforce Development website.