Office 5S Implementation

Ian Seath
Improvement Skills Consulting Ltd.
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Workshop Aims

 To introduce the Lean 5S technique

 To decide how and where it can be applied
within the office
 To begin implementation so we can achieve
some quick wins
 To plan for sustaining 5S
 To commit to developing 5S

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5S Approach

 Two days of “learning by doing”

 Approximately 20% learning/80% doing
 Applicationof principles on your work process
 Focused on immediate implementation

 Immediate tangible benefits

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What is 5S?

 An easy way of achieving major change in an office

environment
 A structure for establishing an orderly, clean and
organised working environment
 A way of identifying new problems and wastes that can
then be resolved by staff and managers
 A way of encouraging everyone to be involved in
improvement activities
 A process for creating the best working environment to
carry out your work and run your business

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What is 5S?
 Based on Japanese words that begin with
“S”, the 5S philosophy focuses on effective
workplace organisation and standardised
work procedures
 Problems cannot be clearly seen when the
workplace is disorganised
 Cleaning and organising the workplace helps
the team to uncover problems
 Making problems visible is the first step of
improvement
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What is 5S?
1) SORT:
Seiri – Eliminate unnecessary items
2) SET IN ORDER:
Seiton – Order: everything in its place
3) SHINE:
Seisu - Clean, check and return to original
state
4) STANDARDISE:
Seiketsu - Define procedures and standardise
5) SUSTAIN:
Shitsuke - Respect and improve standards
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The ideas of 5S are NOT new . . .

 Henry Ford described how he

implemented them in the early
1900s:

“Put all machinery in the best

possible condition, keep it that
way, and insist upon absolute
cleanliness everywhere in
order that he may learn to
respect his tools, his
surroundings, and himself.”

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Office: Before and after 5S…

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Before and after 5S…

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5S Leads to a Visual Office
When anyone can walk into the office and
visually understand the processes and
performance.

Visual Office

5S System

Staff Involvement

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The Seven Wastes:
 Waiting: People waiting for work (e.g. waiting for papers)
 Over-production: Producing more than is needed (e.g.
taking extra copies)
 Re-work: Dealing with failures and correcting problems
(e.g. re-booking appointments)
 Motion: People moving (e.g. to get files, papers,
approvals)
 Over-processing: Unnecessary activities (e.g. collecting
duplicate information, multiple levels of approvals)
 Inventory: Work in progress (e.g. case files “sat on desks”)
 Transportation: Moving stuff around (e.g. files to/from
archives)
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Benefits to you?

 What examples of the 7 Wastes can you

identify in the office?

 What do you think the benefits of applying 5S

might be here?

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 Implementation:

5S APPROACH

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5S: SORT - What is it?

 SORTING does not mean rearranging the items

in your workplace...
 It means separating the necessary from the
unnecessary, and only keeping the necessary
 Why?
 Your work area is crowded and hard to work in
 Time is wasted looking for papers and equipment
 Untidiness hides other problems
 Cabinets, shelves and cupboards get in the way and
put barriers between people

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5S: SORT - How do we do it?
 Identify the area we are SORTING
 Define the criteria for attaching Red Tags
 Allocate a holding area for all dubious items
 This should be in the 5S area, but marked as being the
“quarantine” holding area
 Take lots of “before” photos
 Prepare a Red Tag Board in the 5S area:
 To note tags produced, actions outstanding, and a summary of
the total numbers of tags
 Red Tag all items meeting the criteria (aim for 4 Tags
minimum per person)
 Look everywhere - “waste” is all around the office!
 Get an “independent” person to go around and challenge the
team on what they have tagged and not tagged
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5S: SORT – Red Tagging

 An effective visual method to

identify un-needed items is
called red tagging
 A red tag is placed on all items
not required to complete your
job
 These items are then moved to
a central holding area for later
evaluation of their value
 Occasionally-needed items are
moved to a more organised
storage location away from the
immediate work area
 Un-needed items are
discarded/disposed of
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Red Tag Criteria
Priority Frequency of use Action required

High Daily Store at the workplace,

where it is needed
Medium Once per week, once per Store together, near the
month workplace
Low Less than once per year Throw away, or store
away from the workplace
Unusable items Throw away

This applies to:

- Paperwork (incl. files & books)
- Equipment (incl. furniture)
- Facilities (e.g. storage)

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5S: SORT - Documents

 Look at:  Look for:

 Client paperwork  Out of date?
 Policy documents  Correct version?
 Letters/correspondence  Required for the job?
 Memos  how often?
 Specifications  Kept updated?
 by whom?
 Procedures
 how often?
 Checklists
 Notice Boards

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5S: SORT - How do we do it?

 Evaluate the Red Tag items:

 The team looks at the items tagged to check:
 Have we tagged anything we definitely need?
 Have we tagged anything that belongs to another
department, section or organisation?
 What is useless, unclear or useful?
 Are some things useful, but on a longer time-scale?
 How do we dispose of the items tagged that we don’t
want?
 Have we challenged what we really need and don’t
need?

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5S: SET IN ORDER – What is it?

 Everything in its place and a place for

everything
 Arrange the things you need to do your job so
that they are easy to find, easy to use, and
label them so that anyone can find them and
put them away

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5S: SET IN ORDER – How do we do it?

 Area by area, get the team to put all the items

they need in what they consider the best
place
 If we need the same item in two different
places get two of them, or make it very easy
to move
 Take photos “after” and display them to show
what “good” looks like and where everything
should be (the new “Standard”)

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5S: SET-IN-ORDER – How do we do it?
 Place items in the workplace according to their
frequency of use:
 Frequently used items close to place of work
 Used every hour, within arms reach
 Used several times a day within one pace
 Used once a day, in the work area
 Used less than once a day, out of the work area
 Keep similar equipment and materials together
 Use signs or colour-coding to indicate where
things should be stored
 Make it as easy as possible to put things back
(big holes and labelled gaps!)
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5S: SHINE – What is it?
 We get everything clean and looking like new, and we
keep everything clean and looking like new
 A standardised method for cleaning and tidying any
operational area so that nothing is out of place, nothing
is dirty longer than a day, and anyone visiting the office
cannot fail to be impressed with the cleanliness of the
work area
 Keeping the work area clean and tidy is the responsibility
of the people working in that area, not the responsibility
of a cleaner coming round at the end of the day
 A clean work area helps you to identify emerging
problems so you can take corrective action more quickly

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5S: SHINE – How do we do it?
 Decide if the work area needs a major clean-
up and if so, how that can be done
 Put in a major effort over a short period of
time to get the whole area up to the required
standard
 Take photos of the newly cleaned area and
put them up in the area to show the standard
 Agree what needs to be cleaned daily and by
whom (produce a rota)
 Carry out regular cleanliness inspections
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5S: STANDARDISE – What is it?

 The state that exists when SORT, SET-IN-

ORDER and SHINE are properly maintained
 Writing, displaying and making visual simple
procedures that ensure that all can see
whether an area is keeping up with its targets
on the 5S
 The place will degenerate back to where we
were pre-5S if we don’t standardise

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5S: STANDARDISE – How do we do it?

 Decide who is responsible for keeping each element of

the first 3S up to the required standard and ensure they
do it
 Integrate the 3S duties into everyone’s day to day work:
 We should each have regular daily or weekly 3S activities as part
of our job, irrespective of grade or function
 Instigate regular audits on the office’s 5S performance
 Keep applying the Seven Wastes to drive waste out of
the process as this usually impacts positively on 5S

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5S: SUSTAIN – What is it?

 Sustain is basically about enforcing and accepting the

discipline of 5S – make 5S a habit
 Not letting external factors influence the application of
the 5S principles
 Being critical of those not respecting the standards, or
not following the set procedures
 Emphasising the visual aspect of all the stages, ask
yourself, could a stranger walk in and understand the
situation?
 Can they tell if we are doing it right or doing it wrong? If the
answer is no, then improve the standard

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5S: SUSTAIN – How do we do it?

 Inspect before and after working

 Keep encouraging and recognising those who participate
and never ignore those who slacken
 Use Information Boards to provide recognition to the
team and to show visitors what has been achieved
 Keep talking about the 5S, don’t let them become a low
status activity
 Use the results of 5S audits to drive continuous
improvement
 Always be ready to “Red Tag”, or run further Red Tag
events
 Invite “critical friends” to visit
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5S at home?

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ian.seath@improvement-skills.co.uk

07850 728506

@ianjseath

uk.linkedin.com/in/ianjseath

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