Lean Office Starter Kit

Tracy Parks is a productivity consultant, trainer and speaker helping busy professionals improve

business processes, master their email, calendar, projects, tasks and priorities and implement simple,

sustainable and effective Lean Office workflow practices.

Tracy Parks

Lean Office Starter Kit

About This Workbook………………………………5 A Little Bit About Lean……………………………..6 Identifying Waste…………………………………….7, 8, 9 5S………………………………………………………...10-17 Tools To Use………………………………………..…18 Productivity Zones ………………………………….19, 20 Stand in A Circle……………………………………..21- 25 5S Office Scan………………………………………..26 Bonus Video Information………………………….27 Conclusion…………………………………………….28

TABLE OF CONTENTS:

Lean Office Starter Kit

This workbook is designed to provide a brief and simple understanding of the Lean Office improvement approach known as 5S. 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 shared work area. If the idea of an entire office space seems overwhelming you can simply follow the process steps for an area of your office such as a desk, supply closet, filing cabinet, closet or again, even a single desk drawer. The exercises near the end of the workbook will get you started. Here’s to your lean office journey! Kind Regards,

This Workbook

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Before we dive deeper into 5S lets take a quick look at the work improvement methodology known as Lean Office. In fact you can think of 5S as one of the tools used in a toolbox we will call Lean 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 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.

A Little Bit About Lean

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Value Stream Maps

JIT

5S

Kaizen

Events

Visual

Controls

The LEAN Toolbox

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:

The Four Categories of Waste

1. Information: Multiple copies of a document, 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”.

Identifying Waste

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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.

Deadly Office Wastes #1 - #4

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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.

Deadly Office Wastes #5 - #8

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A method for creating a clean, safe and orderly, high performance

work environment that exposes waste and makes abnormalities

immediately visible.

What is 5S?

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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), 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.

Benefits of 5S

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The 5S’s of 5S

1.Sort: Clearly identify the necessary from the

unnecessary & eliminate all unnecessary items,

process steps or accessibility hindrances.

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.

4.Standardize Develop & implement

standards that promote integrated improvements via

visual Controls and clearly

Delineated procedures.

5.Sustain Integrate checks and balances to assure implementation, to

recognize efforts and to look for additional

ongoing improvement areas.

5S

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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.

Sort “When in Doubt, Move it Out”

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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).

Set “ A Place For Everything and

Everything in it’s Place”

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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 clutter-free.

Shine “Create the Wow Factor”

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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.

Standardize “Deviations are Immediately

Visible ”

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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.

Sustain “Nothing is Stronger Than Habit”

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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

Some Tools to Use

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5 Office Productivity Zones: To optimize your physical office space, consider the layout of your office in zones .

Zone 1: The physical desktop, prime “real estate”. 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 credenza, bookcase, opposite wall shelving, reference files. Include personal items that are inspiring or add aesthetic value.

Zone 4: Outside of personal office space for access to a shared supply closet, central files, shared printers, the copy room.

Zone 5: Offsite storage such for archives, back up media, inventory.

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Productivity Zones

Zone 5

Zone 4

Zone 3

Zone 2

Zone 1

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 favor.

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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…

Stand in A Circle

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Categories

Ergonomic issue Potential safety hazard

Energy inefficiencies Environmental distraction

Cleanliness & Aesthetics issue Taking too long to find what is needed

Too many steps to get to what is

needed

Too hard to access

(reaching/unloading/loading)

More quantity of (X)on hand than

need

Excess or clutter

Not enough space, storage, shelving Walking around things to access other things

Run out of supplies without warning Stuff not needed in this space

Obsolete items Out of date items

Non-functioning items Broken items

Takes too long to process or

complete

Too many steps to finish what has to get

done

Overly complex processes Not getting a process right every time

No clearly defined process for (X) Backlog

Log jams Backsliding/Letting systems deteriorate

Planning issues No clarity around a progress area

Poor follow-through Lack of execution

Refer to this list of Categories of waste or create your own.

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Stand in A Circle Worksheet

Costing You?

Observation

Category S

pace

Tim

e

En

erg

y

Mo

ney

1

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30

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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 yourself, 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, 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

Stand in A Circle Step 1

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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.

Stand in A Circle Step 2

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Category

Item

Check Mark any

“Yes’s”

SORT Unneeded equipment, tools, furniture, etc. present?

SORT Unneeded smaller items present?;

SORT Items present in aisles, halls, corners, etc.?

SORT Unneeded inventory, 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?

STANDARIZE Is work information visible at a glance?

STANDARIZE Are checklists for procedures available?

STANDARIZE Are quantities for supplies labelled?

STANDARIZE Are Sort, Set and Shine being monitored and maintained?

STANDARIZE 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

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

5S Office Scan

Your Name: __________________ Target Area:____________________

Scoring

26

Lean Office Video

If you have not had the opportunity to watch the Basic & Benefits of Lean Office Video. Gain immediate free access from the home page at Simplicated.com.

Just Look for this screen on the right side of the home page.

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Busy executives are applying lean principles to eliminate wasted time and maximize efficiency for themselves personally as well as for their organization.

Conclusion

Are you’re interested in improving efficiency

and productivity so you can free up time to

work on the work that truly matters?

request a complimentary consultation

from the team at Simplicated, LLC

Keep us in mind for individual or team

training, coaching, key-note presentations;

virtually or in-person!