Bad Weather and the 5 'S'

Could the application of 5 'S' have helped you during the recent bad weather?

If you are like a lot of people, then you think, probably not. Even though it came sneaking up on us, we or most of us anyway, found ourselves getting up in the morning, to deep snow or severe frost.

Obviously we could all immediately find our snow shovels - is it in the shed or in the garage, or even just abandoned where we dropped it the last time we used it? What about De-Icer, have I got any, and as it is now nearly 12 months since the last time I used it, where exactly is it?

So could the application of 5 'S' have helped us? I believe we could all have benefited from having a place for everything, and everything being in it's proper place.

The 5 'S's as we know are:

Sort - Remove all unnecessary items.
Set - A place for everything and everything in it's place.
Sweep / Shine - Clean the area "cleaning is inspection".
Standardise - Establish the rules to maintain the 1st 3 'S's.
Sustain - Audit regularly to maintain the standard.

So think about it, can we implement these ideas in our everyday lives as well as our working lives? There is no good reason why we cannot.

Jargon Buster

Just in time (JIT):

A strategy that exposes waste, makes continuous improvement a reality, and relies on total employee involvement. It concentrates on delivering what the customer wants, when they want it and in the quantity they want. The key elements of JIT are flow, pull, standard work (with standard in-process inventories), and TAKT time.

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Comments

Re: Bad Weather and the 5 'S'

1/14/2011 10:47:04 AM by Vicki

I like this entry, there is a lot of value in being better prepared in life but I also think a lot of people like 'winging' it. I can't ever see us being a nation like Germany where there is a lot more thought to planning, setting, sorting etc. Though I do think it's important because the way we live our lives so impacts on everybody else - the tidiness of our front garden, the efficiency of our cars etc, etc. Even if just a few people read your blog and it makes them think it would be well worth it!!! Oh and if they ask for Lean training too!!!

Re: Bad Weather and the 5 'S'

1/14/2011 6:03:26 PM by Cheryl Bradbury

I like to think of myself as fairly organised....then I had kids. This would certainly have helped me to track down that sledge! In all seriousness this is a great model and I will have to start doing more of it.

Re: Bad Weather and the 5 'S'

1/19/2011 9:12:41 AM by Dave

Cheryl this can certainly help in our everyday lives, especially in the kids bedrooms.

Re: Bad Weather and the 5 'S'

3/13/2011 9:56:48 PM by Abigail

I think most people do use Lean, in varying degrees, in their own lives - they just don't recognise the terminology. It's based on common sense and I use the simplicity of this when helping people to understand Lean thinking. It pays to keep it simple, especially in the service sector, but it usually works a treat!

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