Gemba a weblog about better ways to makes things better

5S in the Office Saves Space, Expense Money and Time

Here are some photographs from a recent office 5S activity at one of our clients. Both 5S and a redesign of individual desks and workstations are part of the Lean office effort to help improve productivity and quality. The office layout is being redesigned to be more open and visual. What they have learned over the years through Lean office and office 5S is that they can be more productive using less space, and save money on office supplies to boot. Here's what their red tagging effort turned up.
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Here is the view of the office 5S red tag piles from the ohter end of the hall.
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Once they put supplies at point of use, they had to 5S the remaining extra offices supplies.
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And to prevent materials from being purchased before needed these visual management cards were added.
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A diagonal stripe was taped on to the spines of a set of binders. This very simple visual system shows at a glance if something is missing so you can find it and put the office back in order before disorder spreads. That way office 5S is easier to sustain.
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The office 5S red tag bin, as well as the trash cans are marked an made visual. Setting locations is one of the steps of 5S to standardize workplace organization.
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Speaking of 5S red tags, if you're looking for them or other 5S supplies, get them here.
red tags.PNG
To date 175,300 red tags sold. That's a lot of red tagged items. Think about it.

By Jon Miller - June 29, 2006 10:54 PM

Comments

I think the tape across the binders is really neat, very simple system... yet I have never seen anyone do it before.

Posted by: Jim - July 5, 2006 8:11 AM

Hey Jon,

quite interesting report.

I implemented 5S programs in a couple of our plants for logistics but I never did 5S for offices.

Would you mind to provide me some further information on this topic?

Greets,

Nils

Posted by: Nils - July 28, 2006 1:41 AM

Hi Nils,

The application of 5S to the office is not so different from logistics or manufacturing. If you have done it successfully in logistics you can do it in the office.

The key thing is to explain to people what it is and why it's important for making waste visible. There is not so much to tell, it is doing.

The activities to do 5S in the office are the same, getting rid of what you don't need, making a place for everything, cleaning at the start and end of each day, etc. to sustain and improve.

If you are ever in the Seattle area you are welcome, we will give you a tour of our office 5S.

Jon

Posted by: Jon Miller - July 31, 2006 1:57 AM

it was nice to see these pictures showing 5s in actions. can you send me some more pictures with before and after explanation.

also i would like to know if there is any scope of 5s in office which is already neat and clean and properly maintain.

Posted by: pradeep sharma - October 15, 2006 10:57 PM

Hello Pradeep,

Unfortunately I can not send you more pictures. If I said yes than we would end up doing nothing but sending pictures and examples all day to everyone who asks. But we will post future examples here on the blog.

Even if your office is already neat and clean there is scope for 5S. The goal of 5S is not "neat and clean" but "make waste visible". Here is a challenge: in an office with good 5S you should be able to get any file you need within 30 seconds.

Jon

Posted by: Jon Miller - October 16, 2006 6:20 PM

Now I must deploy 5S activity at my Office. I hear many 5S Activities for Factory. But for office it is difficult. Please help me.

Posted by: Thang - December 6, 2007 6:57 PM

Hello Thang,

Why is 5S difficult in the office? If we know why, we can help.

Posted by: Jon Miller - December 9, 2007 6:40 PM

Dear sir,
We are doing 5S in Physical Environment. But I would like to know how to carryout 5S in Systems Environment particularly in Purchase department . Preferably with a example like case study.
Thanks and Regards
HANUMAN

Posted by: G.Hanuman - July 14, 2008 4:31 AM

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