AMAZING
LEAN
QUALITY
Rozil Anwar
1
Rozil Anwar
is a Quality Assurance
Leader, Lean Six Sigma
black belt, Bachelor of
engineering, master’s in
business administration,
ICAO certified, CQI &
IRCA
Certified
ISO
9001:2015 Lead Auditor,
CQI & IRCA Certified ISO 45001:2018 Lead Auditor
BPMN Expert, productivity consultant, trainer and
speaker, pursuing Leadership Principles program from
Harvard Business School and helping busy professionals
improve business processes, master their email, calendar,
projects, tasks and priorities and implement simple,
sustainable and effective Lean Home Office workflow
practices.
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CONTENTS
1 About This Workbook ................................................................................................. 4
2. Introduction to Lean ................................................................................................... 5
3. Lean Tips for Managers.............................................................................................. 6
4. Identifying Waste........................................................................................................ 8
5. The Four Categories of Waste .................................................................................... 8
6. Deadly Home Office Wastes ...................................................................................... 8
7. What is 5S? ................................................................................................................ 10
8. Benefits of 5S ............................................................................................................. 11
9. The 5S’s of 5S ............................................................................................................. 12
10. Sort ........................................................................................................................... 13
11. Set ............................................................................................................................. 13
12. Shine......................................................................................................................... 14
13. Standardize.............................................................................................................. 15
14. Sustain...................................................................................................................... 16
15. Some Tools to Use ................................................................................................... 17
16. Productivity Zones ................................................................................................. 18
17. Productivity Zones ................................................................................................. 19
18. Stand in A Circle ..................................................................................................... 20
19. Categories ................................................................................................................ 21
20. Stand in A Circle Worksheet.................................................................................. 22
21. 5S Office Scan .......................................................................................................... 25
22. Conclusion ............................................................................................................... 27
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1 ABOUT THIS WORKBOOK
This workbook is designed to provide a brief and simple understanding of the Lean
improvement approach known as 5S which can be deployed in office or home work
space.
5S can be applied to a physical setting such as an office, shared kitchen, copy room,
conference rooms, a supply closet or a single desk drawer, as well as in digital spaces;
think email or digital document folders, a company shared drive.
5S can also be applied towards process improvement.
This introduction provides a few fundamental concepts , tools and resources to
complete a 5S initiative in a physical setting such as an office space or home work area.
If the idea of an entire office space seems overwhelming you can simply follow the
process steps for an area of your home office such as a desk, supply closet, filing
cabinet, closet or again, even a single desk drawer or emails.
The exercises near the end of the workbook will get you started.
Here’s to your lean office journey!
Kind Regards,
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2. INTRODUCTION TO LEAN
Before we dive deeper into 5S lets take a quick look at the work improvement
methodology known as Lean Home Office.
In fact you can think of 5S as one of the tools used in a toolbox we will call Lean Home
Office. Other tools common to lean include Kaizen, Value Stream Mapping, Visual
Controls, Metrics, and JIT (Just in Time).
The concept of Lean is often credited to the work of Taiichi Ohno, father of the Toyota
Production System, Lean Manufacturing and Lean Six Sigma.
Whereas , Lean Manufacturing and Lean Six Sigma focuses primarily on improvement
in a manufacturing setting, Lean Home Office eliminates waste and non-value-add
activity in the operational, administrative and transactional areas of a business,
reducing cost and improving efficiency.
All this without sacrificing safety, value to the customer or customer service.
Value Stream
Maps (JIT)
5S
The LEAN
toolbox
Kaizen Events
Visual Controls
5
3. LEAN TIPS FOR MANAGERS
LEAN is relentless waste elimination to seek perfection.
LEAN is continual improvement.
Lean is Respect for people. Poorly designed process is disrespectful because of
following:
Reducing waste reduces stress
Front liners shall be authorised to solve problems
Shift focus from people to process
Brilliantly designed process can be managed well even by average people.
Good managers finish the day by planning for the next day. It leads to better sleep and
mind is relaxed for the evening. Follow below simple yet effective steps to boost your
self-esteem:
•
Before leaving for the day prepare for the next day. Identify completed tasks
and be grateful. Identify tasks which are pending. A simple template can be
used to plan your next day.
6
Develop an organisation skill. Use alphabetical system to prepare a master list at
desktop or use a planner or journal. We spend almost 2-5 minutes looking for
misplaced items. Save Time and feel less frustrated.
Home
Office
Phone
Computer
Increase your productivity. Find the time of the day you are most productive, high
on energy, alert- Your own Prime Time. For many its morning time and for few
evenings. Do problem solving and creative thinking at this point of the day. 90%
chances are that you will be successful.
Start Early for the next day if you must go to work to beat the traffic peak time.
Wear a watch.
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4. IDENTIFYING WASTE
Identifying waste (which the Japanese refer to as muda) is foundational to the Lean
Process, after all if you can’t “see” it, how could you possibly improve it?
Becoming familiar with common areas of waste in an office or organizational setting
will help increase awareness of waste.
Waste can be “compartmentalized” into four categories:
5. THE FOUR CATEGORIES OF WASTE
1. Information: Multiple copies of a document or emails, downloaded information
that is never accessed, unread reports, excess verbiage, out-of date information.
2. Process: Unnecessary steps, non-value add activities, bottlenecks, delays.
3. Assets: In the physical environment, unused tools, binders, supplies, excess
equipment, equipment in disrepair, clutter, trash, excessive stock, underutilized
space. This same type of waste rears its ugly head in the digital environment as well.
4. People: Inefficiencies in how people work such as time spent looking for things,
doing things over, unproductive meetings, email “jail”, waiting for information
needed to complete a task, overworked or overtired resulting in errors , defects and
"do-over’s“, “info-addicts”.
6. DEADLY HOME OFFICE WASTES
In addition to The Four Categories of Waste, one can also identify 8 types of waste
common to most office spaces and business processes.
1. Correction or Re-work: Time wasted re-doing; expense of additional time,
materials, energy, equipment, and labor.
2. Waiting: Process is impeded or stalled resulting in idle time and work stoppage,
rebooting a PC, “analysis paralysis”, pursuit of perfection.
3. Unnecessary Motion: Motion that does not add value as a result of poor office
design, poor workflow, scattered supplies, walking, searching, and bending.
4. Over Processing: Tasks performed as a result of habit rather than customer value,
documentation overkill, printing or distributing superfluous weekly/monthly reports
(particularly if they are available online), handling paper or forms repeatedly, printing
email, opening and rereading email or paper mail without processing.
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5. Equipment Downtime: Often due to poor maintenance or poor planning, slow
computer speed, duplicate files, un-purged email files, caching issues, printers or
copiers running out of ink, toner or paper.
6. Inventory /Storage: Excessive stock of anything: supplies, tools, books, inventory,
items or services paid for but not in use, obsolete files which utilize valuable, costly
square footage, off-site storage and the time spent and paid for to manage such waste.
7. Inspection: When work is performed incorrectly and results in inspections,
approvals and resulting reporting, reviewing, or corrective action.
8. Intellect: Failure to engage employee’s involvement to the level of their expertise,
or provide training and tools. This also includes micromanagement.
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7. WHAT IS 5S?
A method for creating a clean, safe and orderly, high performance work environment
that exposes waste and makes abnormalities immediately visible.
1. Sort
4.
Standar
d-ize
5.
Sustain
2. Set in
order
3. Shine
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8. BENEFITS OF 5S
It’s difficult to work to the best of your abilities when your office or digital repositories
are a disorganized mess. To others (co-workers, clients, supervisors, family members),
your workspace may be a visual representation of how professional and organized
they perceive you to be.
There are a number of benefits to using 5S to reorganize physical or digital
workspaces.
• 5S helps save resources because it forces you to look at every tool and process that
you use at the present time:
– If any tool or process is inefficient, you can change how you do things, or discard
them.
– You also save resources by reducing storage costs.
• 5S helps improve quality and safety, standardize processes, and improve morale.
– You and your team will be more efficient and productive once you've used 5S to
change and reorganize your environment and/or digital processes.
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9. THE 5S’S OF 5S
5.Sustain
Integrate checks and
balances to assure
implementation, to
recognize efforts and to
look for additional
ongoingimprovement
areas.
1.Sort:
Clearly identify the
necessary from the
unnecessary & eliminate
all unnecessary items,
process steps or
accessibility hindrances
5S
4.Standardize
Develop & implement
standards that promote
integrated improvements
via visual Controls and
clearly Delineated
procedures.
2.Set
Place necessary items
in a manner that
permits immediate
access, retrieval and
replacement.
3.Shine
Continue to isolate,
clean and keep all
surrounding work or
access areas free of
debris or hindrances.
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10. SORT
“When in Doubt, Move it Out”
This is the starting point. Eliminate anything in your workspace that's unnecessary for
doing the work you do at the present time. All unnecessary items, tools, papers, files
and supplies are removed from the target area.
This includes anything and everything that you're not using for your current tasks.
11. SET
“ A Place For Everything and
Everything in it’s Place”.
This step involves organizing the items that
still remain in your space, making sure they're
easy to find. This step helps to ensure efficient
workflow by placing items close to where
they'll be used.
Refer to the 5 Office
Productivity Zones (below).
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12. SHINE
“Create the Wow Factor” In a nutshell, think of this step as “cleaning to inspect”.
Begin to determine what level of cleanliness you want your targeted office or work
area to be maintained. Consider what could be done that would fully optimize the
space; improved lighting, better ergonomics, a fresh coat of paint?
Identify sources of clutter such as of paper’s that may accumulate on a surface area,
files that are piled (instead of filed) or incoming paperwork and notes stacked on your
desk or placed on the seat of your office chair so they don’t go unnoticed.
Take note of areas which are harder to keep organized than others; this may be an
indication that you're missing a tool, product, or process to keep it clean and clutterfree.
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13. STANDARDIZE
“Deviations are Immediately
Visible ”.
This step is about developing a routine or process to keep your targeted area clean,
clutter free and optimized as the standard rather than the exception.
Review potential problem areas and create a plan to alleviate them. Cleaning
systematically is a daily part of work, rather than an occasional activity.
Over time areas that could benefit from additional improvement as well as new
improvement opportunities will surface as your level of awareness increases and
deviations become immediately visible.
15
14. SUSTAIN
“Nothing is Stronger Than Habit”
How can you retrain yourself (and others) to ensure your targeted space remains
clean, clutter free and optimal for the execution of your work?
This may include productivity training or coaching, visual controls, even incentives
that may motivate further gains, maintain the new standard and avoid slipping back
to former habits and practices.
Use tools like a 5S Diagnostic Check List, spider diagram, visual work chart, or Pareto
diagram. As you progress remember that for you (or others involved) this is about
continuous incremental improvement; Forget the Blame,
Sustain the Gain!
5S is not a “once & done approach, but rather a process of incremental ongoing
improvement steps.
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15. SOME TOOLS TO USE
In the remaining pages of this workbook you will find 4 separate “tools” you can use
to test the water of your own small 5S project, or simply use them to raise your current
level of awareness.
Choose one or try them all!
Office Productivity Zones
Stand In A Circle
5S Diagnostic Scorecard
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16. PRODUCTIVITY ZONES
5 Office Productivity Zones: To optimize your physical home office space, consider
the layout of your home office in zones.
Zone 1: The physical desktop, prime “My Desk”. No movement should be required
to access work tools used all of the time. Limit personal items to aesthetically pleasing
layout or single inspiring item.
Zone 2: Requires a swivel or slight chair movement to access secondary tools and
resources such as a dominant hand file drawer, supply drawer, desk hutch, shelves,
and printer tray. Limit personal items to an aesthetically pleasing layout or single
inspiring item.
Zone 3: Requires movement out of the desk chair yet still in personal office space;
access to a bookcase, opposite wall shelving, reference files. Include personal items
that are inspiring or add aesthetic value.
Zone 4: Outside of personal home office space for access to shared supply closet,
central files, shared printers with family members or office colleagues when in office.
Zone 5: Offsite storage such for archives, back up media, inventory.
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17. PRODUCTIVITY ZONES
Look at the visual diagram below and using the descriptions on the previous page as
a guide; look for areas of improvement within your designated office space.
Consider involving a peer or workgroup team member in this exercise to bring a fresh
perspective; then, return the favour.
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18. STAND IN A CIRCLE
This exercise is called "Stand in a Circle" and is said to have originated with Taiichi
Ohno, the father of the Toyota Production System (later known as Lean
Manufacturing) in an effort to help managers understand and "see" waste.
80% of the purpose of this exercise is to build awareness and rewire your brain to see
many small problems. 20% of the process is purposed toward actual improvements.
You will want to set aside an hour and have gathered the following tools:
• Print a copy of the Stand In A Circle Worksheet (below)
• Grab a pencil or pen and locate a clipboard or firm writing surface
• Put on comfortable shoes (you will be standing for 60 minutes)
• A camera is preferred but optional
• Review the Category list on the next page
• Read the steps on page…
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19. CATEGORIES
Refer to this list of Categories of waste or create your own.
Ergonomic issue
Out of date items
Potential safety hazard
Non-functioning items
Energy inefficiencies
Broken items
Environmental distraction
Takes too long to process or complete
Cleanliness & Aesthetics issue
Too many steps to finish what has to get done
Taking too long to find what is needed
Overly complex processes
Too many steps to get to what is needed
Not getting a process right every time
Too
hard
to
(reaching/unloading/loading)
access
No clearly defined process for (X)
More quantity of (X)on hand than need
Backlog
Excess or clutter
Log jams
Not enough space, storage, shelving
Backsliding/Letting systems deteriorate
Walking around things to access other things
Planning issues
Run out of supplies without warning
No clarity around a progress area
Stuff not needed in this space
Poor follow-through
Obsolete items
Lack of execution
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20. STAND IN A CIRCLE WORKSHEET
Money
Energy
Category
Time
Observation
Space
Costing you?
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
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Stand in A Circle Step 1
As you begin this exercise, just observe and write - no need to comment or discuss
with others (other than within necessity of being polite). Describe what you see and
how or why you see this results in waste.
Stay in one area and look deeply; it's easy to find 30 things if you flutter around like a
butterfly and point out the large obvious wastes –instead, plant you, like a tree and
really see.
Sometimes waste can be hard to spot - if you need a place to begin, look for issues
pertaining to safety, quality, environment, or energy losses. Do lights need to be
turned off? Do you need better lighting? Is there a counter, carpet, wall, file cabinet,
desk area or storage area in need of cleaning? Any work positions with bad
ergonomics, awkward access?
• Choose a spot in your work environment.
• For 30 minutes, stand and observe -- silently.
• The key is to practice what the Japanese call ”kizuki“ the ability to notice.
• On your worksheet write down anything you notice that results in waste – it could
include energy, time, a safety concern, and abnormalities of any kind, something you
notice you're not doing as efficiently as you could be.
• Your task is to find 30 things (one each minute ) including writing time, then proceed
to page
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Stand in A Circle Step 2
Congratulations that’s half of the exercise!
Now take another 30 minutes to:
• Choose one of the items you noted and make some type of improvement.
• In the four columns on the right side of the worksheet indicate in what form this
waste is costing you. Is it costing you space, time, energy, money?
• Create a next action for another of your notations and make an appointment on your
calendar with yourself to complete that next action. It doesn’t have to be long and
involved, just a small step leading to larger scale improvement.
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21. 5S OFFICE SCAN
Your Name: __________________ Target Area:____________________
Check
Mark any
“Yes’s”
Category
Item
SORT
Unneeded equipment, tools, furniture, etc. present?
SORT
Unneeded smaller items present?;
SORT
Items present in aisles, halls, corners, etc.?
SORT
Unneeded inventories, supplies, parts, materials, are present?
SORT
Safety hazards exist?
SET
Items not obviously in convenient locations for easy access?
SET
Items not put away or in their correct places after use?
SET
Visual controls and labels to assist with identifying & returning items after use?
SET
Searching waste?
SET
Shelves or drawers with piles or empty space?
SHINE
Floors, walls, surfaces dirty or messy?
SHINE
Equipment not maintained or dusty?
SHINE
Cleaning materials not accessible?
SHINE
Labels, signs, notices not clean or functional?
SHINE
Trash or clutter not emptied/removed?
STANDARDIZE
Is work information visible at a glance?
STANDARDIZE
Are checklists for procedures available?
STANDARDIZE
Are quantities for supplies labelled?
STANDARDIZE
Are Sort, Set and Shine being monitored and maintained?
STANDARDIZE
How many items can’t be located in 30 seconds or less?
SUSTAIN
Are any staff members not trained in the SOP and 5S processes?
SUSTAIN
Is five-minute 5S performed routinely?
SUSTAIN
Are job aids up to date and accurate?
SUSTAIN
Are staff members unable or not encouraged to identify waste?
SUSTAIN
Are regular audits being carried out?
TOTAL
Place the total number of check marks here
25
Scoring:
If 5 or more problems exist
0
If 3 or 4 problems exist
1
If 2 problems exists
2
Only 1 problem
3
No Problems
4
26
22. CONCLUSION
Busy executives are applying lean principles to eliminate wasted time and maximize
efficiency for themselves personally as well as for their organization to maintain work
life balance while working from home or working in office.
27