5S, lean, and Kaizen are popular terms used to describe a system used to identify and eliminate all forms of waste in the work environment. These principles that have been used on shop floors around the world to increase productivity and efficiency can be applied to the office environment.
A 5S Office system is a process to ensure work areas are clean and organized. The goal for implementing a 5S System in the office environment is to make the office clean, organized and more efficient. You will be able to find what you need, when you need it and know exactly where everything is.
A 5S Office System will lay the foundation for a lean office. A properly implemented and maintained 5S Office System will make the office more productive, cleaner, raise morale and save money. Once this foundation is in place you can build on it using the principles of continuous improvement to improve the office and office management systems.
This series of articles will take you through the stages of planning and implementing a 5S Office System.
- Part 1 – Planning
- Part 2 – Laying the Foundation
- Part 3 – Your First 5S Office Campaign
- Part 4 – Sustaining the 5S Office System
- Part 5 – Building on Your Success
Planning a 5S Office System
The key to proper implementation of a 5S Office System is planning. Educate yourself on 5S in the office. There are many sources available on the Internet as well as books.
- 5S FOR THE OFFICE: Organizing the Workplace to Eliminate Waste
- 5S Office Facilitator Guide
- 5S Office Training Package
Get Management’s Support
For your 5S Office System to be successful you will need to support of management and leadership. Prepare an overview of what 5S is. Explain how it will make the workplace cleaner, more productive, more efficient, increase morale and lower cost. Leadership always likes to hear about low cost ways to improve these areas so these should be your key selling points.
Create a 5S Office Team
To help you plan and implement a 5S Office System you should create a 5S Office Team. Team members should be managers, supervisors, team leads and your most organized and knowledgeable workers. Pick only a few relevant members of management. Most of the team should be office workers. The best feedback on improvement comes from those who actually do the work. They can tell you what works and what needs to be improved on. This team will not only help you plan and launch your 5S Office System, they will also help you sustain it.
First Meeting
The goal of your first 5S Office team meeting should be to educate the team members on the 5S Office System and set goals. Start with an overview of 5S and the benefits of implementing a 5S Office System.
Discuss the 5S’s
- Sort - Remove everything from the office space that is not needed to do the work.
- Straighten – “A place for everything and everything in its place”
- Shine – Cleanliness
- Standardize – Business rules to support the 5S Office System
- Sustain – Instill the self-discipline to sustain the 5S Office System
Discuss the 7 Wastes in the Office
- Over Production – More information than the customer needs, more information than the next process needs, creating reports no one reads, or making extra copies
- Transportation – Retrieving or storing files, carrying documents to and from shared equipment, taking files to another person, or going to get signatures
- Motion -Searching for files, extra clicks or keystrokes, clearing away files on the desk, gathering information, looking through manuals and catalogs, or handling paperwork
- Waiting – Waiting for faxes or a copy machine, for the system to come back up, for a customer response, or a handed-off file to come back.
- Unnecessary Processing – Creating reports, repeated manual entry of data, use of outdated standard forms, or use of inappropriate software
- Inventory – Files waiting to be worked on, open projects, too many office supplies, e-mails waiting to be read, or unused records in the database
- Defects – Data entry errors, pricing errors, missing information, missed specifications, or lost records
During this meeting you should establish the goals for your 5S Office System. Examples of goals include:
- Eliminate Waste
- Increase Productivity
- Increase Efficiency
- Better Organization
- Increase Morale
- Clean Work Environment
Engage Your 5S Office Team
During this meeting solicit as much feedback as you can get from office workers. They will have ideas you never thought of to help improve the office environment. Many of these can be integrated into the 5S Office System.
For a 5S Office System to work you must have everyone aboard. 5S is dependent on each worker following the system and doing their part. You want to highlight that the office workers are the companies most valuable resource and that a 5S Office System will make their job easier.
Neither you or your 5S Office team will have enough time to Individual self-discipline will be required to sustain the system. By nature people are resistant to change. You need to have your team fully educated and committed to the 5S Office System. It will make it much easier to implement the system and have it accepted by office workers if they are part of the process.
5S Office System Videos
Here are a couple of videos about 5S in the office you may find useful.
The 5S Office System Series
- Part 1 – Planning
- Part 2 – Laying the Foundation
- Part 3 – Your First 5S Office Campaign
- Part 4 – Sustaining the 5S Office System
- Part 5 – Building on Your Success
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well…..i want be this system manualy.plz send