7 Steps for Sorting during implementing 5S

The first 'S' of 5S which stands for Sorting. It means that seperate out items within a target area on need basis i.e. the items which are necessory for that area and the items which are not necessory for that area.

7 Steps for Sorting:-

1. The 5S implementing team of that area mutually defines the purpose for the area as a basis for which items need to be seperated out.
2. The 5S implementing team agrees on the items which are not essential to the selected area.
3. These items are then Red Tagged.
4. Red Tagged items are then moved to a staging area, a place where decisions about the items will be made. Create one stagging (Red Tag Area) if you do not have it.
5. Managers are to determine the disposition of Red Tagged items which may include: return to area, find a new proper place, dispose or repair.
6. Begin to determine best area for remaining items.
7. Put up project bulletin board for communication to the other employees and prominently before and after photograps of that area.

Why to Use 5S (Workplace Organization and Standardization)?

In order to start 5S (Workplace Organization and Standardization) one must be pretty much clear about its Why?

The straight farward answer to this question is:-

To ensure work areas are systematically kept clean and organized, ensuring employee safety, and providing for the foundation on which to build a Lean System

5S Stands for :-

1st S stands for Sorting the necessary from the unnecessary

2nd S stands for Set in Order

3rd S stands for Shining

4th S stands for Standardize

5th S stands for Sustain

5S Workplace Organization and Standardization

You may have heard a lot about this 5S (Workplace Organization and Standardization). You can assume that 5S is the foundation of Toyota Production System which is commonly know as Lean Manufacturing. Before Implementing 5S or any other Lean Manufacturing Tool or Toyota Production System tool we must know the answers to the following Questions:-

01. Why Use 5S?

02. Who will Do 5S?

03. How Long will it take to 5S?

04. What does 5S do?

05. How do you do 5S?

In my coming Post I will answer the above questions regarding 5S in detail and practical implementation way.

Beliefs of the Lean History Makers Part 2

This is the second part of Believes of the Lean History Makers.

Divine Wind:

Divine wind was also a strong belief in Japanese culture. It is also known as "Kamikaze" in Japanese language. They belief that some miracle will save them from odd and difficult situations. They have to do nothing, just stick to the old culture and mind there own business. They don't have to interact with any one. No trade is required with other countries.

How this belief developed?

It was a great event which took place around 1273. Kublai Khan's forces attacked Japan. The battle was fought by the Japanese very bravely the whole day. At the night time the fight stopped, now the Japanese were filled with horror of defeat the next morning. But a miracle happened, A wind blown across the sea and devastated the forces of Kublai Khan. In the morning, Japanese were stunned to see their enemies condition just a few left, all the ships were broken. Japanese were very happy about this miracle.
After 7 years the Kublai Khan again sent his army to conquer Japan with even more ships and soldiers. This time when Japanese come to know that thousands of ships are to attack Japan, they were sure about their defeat. They fought well in the day time and kept the attacker out of Japan. At night they started praying and were terrified. Surprisingly a wind again blown and destroyed the forces of Kublai Khan.
After these incidents Japanese felt that no one could conquer them. There is a divine wind which is there to save them.

Beliefs of Lean History Makers

Can you imagine below mentioned beliefs belongs to a nation which is going to create a history for the rest of the world to follow, A great history of Lean History Makers.

Who were samurai?

The warriors were known as the samurai. They were proud of their weapon was a sword. They have superiority over the common man. In short the powers belongs to political and military leaders.

Not embracing the new technology

The Portuguese seafarers introduced guns to the Japanese, they quickly taken them to use in battles but soon they realized that there is no honor in using gun. Any body could shoot gun, a child, a coward or a dishonorable person. But sword fighting was a great skill. They declared guns are inappropriate. So the demand for gun decreased and swords increased. They believe in the old traditions and strict to their own business, not interested in western culture and advancements. In short they were the fundamentalist, contented and satisfied with their current situation and they thought they were perfect and they require no advancement. Further more they believe in divine wind which will be discussed in the coming post.

How can I help save the Earth by Using Lean Tools

As we are using Lean Manufacturing tools to save our earth. Here we will discuss the main step to achieve our goal.

Open up your eyes

The key to achieve results in this case and most of others is "observation". So make your observation strong. Observation leads to clarification of thoughts and shows the true picture. We are living in an apparent world. We are unaware of so many things that we feel satisfied with the current situation. So open up your eyes to see the real situation. You need a power of vision. A vision to see beyond the bright lights and racing automobiles.

Start Learning Lean Tools

Lean tools are one of the excellent strategies on earth to date for a success in business. These were initiated and adopted by Toyota motors and see where it is now. Now a days Lean Tools have become a recipe for success in almost each sector. Thousands of companies are implementing and thousands other are about to start. So this is the best way to save our earth. Now the question is "How to Learn Lean Tools?" Its pretty easy job as mentioned below

3 Easy steps to Learn Lean Tools

1. History of Lean

This step is very important in Learning, it will lead you to the depth of the tools and their evolution. It will give you the insight of the feelings attached to specific tools. By going through the history, you will have a confidence during the implementation phase and it would be really easy for you to relate a particular situation to its historical context. Finally you will find a positive change in yourself, may be you can call it positive energy. In the coming posts I am going to start history of Lean, so stay tuned.

2. Knowledge of Lean Tools

There are numerous Lean Tools having practical implementation. This step is pretty vital, as here basic concepts are going to be developed so these concepts must go in right direction otherwise it would be dangerous to implement these tools with a false concept but I assure if have gone through the history in detail then there is no way to have a false concept. These tools will also be shared after the "history of Lean".

3. Implementation of Lean Tools

There is a saying "Knowing is not enough, we must apply". This is exactly what we need to do. Not only after acquiring all the knowledge but in between just after the first tool you learn immediately start implementing it. This will also be shared after the "Knowledge of Lean Tools"

Top 4 Reasons to Learn Lean tools for individuals

Lean saves your time, money and makes your life easy.

Time:

If you have no knowledge, you can improve it by study. If you have medical problem, you can get it solved by medicine. But if you have lost your time nothing could bring it back. This shows how important time is? Lean focus on eliminating non value adding activities and according to Lean 50% - 95% of the time of any activity is non value adding. The problem is that it is difficult to differentiate between value adding and non value adding activities. Once you have got familiarization with the types of wastages, defined by Lean, you can easily save 50% - 95% of time by eliminating the waste activities(non value adding).

Money:

It is one of the most important necessity of life and sometimes it is the only objective of life. Lean thinking provokes you to analyze wastage of money and resources. Important thing is that, with Lean thinking, it would be very easy for you to make decisions regarding money matters. You 'l have solid background/believe in what you are doing. The problem is that, we are not able to know where we are wasting money? Is money being wasted or not? Lean thinking could really change your mindset.

Making life Easy:

There is a saying "A place for every thing and every thing in its place." This is the basic principle of 5S( A Lean Tool). By applying this tool you sort things on basis of need. Items needed and not needed are segregated. Items not needed are sold out or disposed off. Then needed items are arranged in an order depending upon the frequency of usage. A permanent place is assigned to every needed item with its description and a marking around its boundary. After this cleaning is carried out and then cleaning is made a daily habit. By this tool you can got rigid of your old broken furniture, unused racks, old books, digest, magazines, cloths and household items. You can achieve 50% reduction in overall items. Increasing space and cleanliness. Similar operation can be carried out on your office work bench and on you personal computer to achieve the same results-Making life easy for you.

Striving to make the earth a better place:

Natural resources are being consumed at a rapid rate, going towards an end. For example, Oil has reached to its peak value. Fresh under water resources are very limited. Food items production is not increasing at rate at which its consumption is. So where are we going? Going to an end? Yes surely if we didn't wake up individually. Fresh water is limited and still we waste it during tooth brush, shaving , bathing etc. Excessive water for gardening. Extensive car washes. Excessive cleaning and washing of house floor and cloths. These all factors are in our control. Can we save water? This question is up to you. If we analyze food supply chain, there is a huge wastage of 30% to 50%. So there is a great margin of improvement for us. We can reduce all these wastages

Every journey begins with a small step. Small drops of water make mighty oceans. So, start your life in Lean way.