Eliminating clutter is part of implementing lean theory

Jan. 1, 2020
What's known as the 5 S's - sort, set, shine, standardize and sustain - is a useful tool even if you aren't implementing other lean processes.
Eber ABRN auto body repair collision repair lean production 5 S's This isn't another article about "lean." There are plenty of other great sources (even within the pages of this magazine) for information on that topic.

This is, however, an article on our shop's experience implementing one portion of "lean" theory. What's known as the 5 S's – sort, set, shine, standardize and sustain – can be a useful tool even if you have no interest in moving on to other elements of "lean" production.

I chose to bring in some outside help – through my paint vendor – to explain the 5S theory to my employees and help get the ball rolling. We held two workshops – each about three hours and a week apart – during which we halted production and closed the office to ensure all employees could participate. One session included a working lunch, and the other started an hour ahead of our usual opening time, so we really only "lost" about a half-day of production.

The first session was primarily a seminar with some hands-on exercises that helped explain the 5S goal. It is essentially a housecleaning – getting rid of unnecessary clutter and finding the right place for everything – in order to reduce wasted time and energy that employees spend finding what they need or being stymied by missing or non-working items.

The second session got employees working on at least the first three of the S's. For example:

  • We split the group into two teams, and each designed what they saw as the ideal, efficient technician workplace, listing and laying out what they'd want close at hand to improve productivity. Each group explained their list and sketch, giving us now a chance to choose the best elements of each.
  • One group then worked to design a body technician supply cart, again listing the supplies and items most often needed. We'd actually bought carts for this some time ago, and have had some success with them; "reuse" boxes on them, for example, have given techs a place to toss sandpaper that still has some life, and small garbage cans hooked to the carts have reduced time spent cleaning up stalls. But because we failed to really standardize and sustain (the last two of the S's) how the carts were used, the organization hadn't stuck and the carts have become a little more chaotic. Getting more employee involvement and buy-in in their design should help. The group also determined that carts with a larger top work surface would allow for storage and mixing space for body filler at the stall rather than at one location in the shop.
  • The second group similarly designed some standards for the parts carts we've been using for about two years to store items for each job. The discussion focused largely on finding solutions on how to deal with the largest parts – hoods and box sides – that don't fit well on the carts.
  • Every employee was given yellow and red tags and asked to go through the shop, yellow-tagging any tools or equipment that needed maintenance, and red-tagging any items that are no longer used. A defunct paint distiller is among the items now cleared out of the way. Another unexpected outcome: One employee knew of a buyer for a floor-mount lift we had removed some months ago but that we hadn't known we were interested in selling.

What pleased me most about the process was how curious and engaged employees were, and how they seem to now better understand that changes we've been trying to implement aren't just disruptions but are focused on goals that will benefit all of us. Five S is an ongoing process, but in just a few hours, we made some real progress in getting everyone into the continuous improvement mindset.

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