Thought Leadership: Process Improvements - 5s-ing The Warehouse

Free Rent! How We 5s'd Our Warehouse

Having been in business for 85 years, our warehouse had accumulated an enormous amount of material and as a fiscally conservative company, throwing away even a $.02 wire nut, was traditionally out of the question but we were in a growth cycle and needed more space. So, the question was – do we lease more space which would cost us a significant amount additional per year or leverage our lean thinking and create space in our existing warehouse utilizing the 5S method?

5S is a system to reduce waste and optimize productivity through maintaining an orderly workplace and using visual cues to achieve a more consistent operational result.

With a project Champion ready to take on the challenge, we began implementing the 5S system into our warehouse operations.

Sort

The 5s process started with “red tagging” all items that were no longer necessary for our production operations. These items were then either disposed of, recycled, or resold. This process allowed us to increase our available square footage without having to rent more space – having the opposite effect, gaining financial profit from this process.

Pro Tip: If the receptable dates back to 1942, get rid of it!

Set

Once only the necessary items remained, our efforts were focused on warehouse mapping. We had our CAD Drafter develop a warehouse map and labeling system we put in process for the racking. The objective here is to set items in place, from there, being able to set in order all of our items. There are different ways to “set” your warehouse space – by type, color, size, brand, etc. This step of the process is meant to improve efficiency and stress for the worker by knowing where every item is stored in close proximity to the workspace.

What Set process works for you? We chose to organize by size.

Shine

With the clutter gone, we could now do a deep cleaning of the workspace and establish guidelines for continued maintenance and cleaning of our shop (ex: Garbage taken out at the end of every day and floors mopped at the end of every Friday). While these sound minor, it makes a big difference in not only the workspace but in the mentality.

Motto: A cluttered workspace yields a cluttered mind.

Standardize

To standardize means to create a method for maintaining the first 3 steps (Sort, Set, Shine) and to create a consistent approach with which tasks and procedures are done (ex: Who are we assigning responsibility for Sort, Set, Shine, how often is it to be done, etc.). This was then all documented in a Standard Operating Procedure that continues to be a working document as we are constantly enhancing the process.

Motto #2: SOPS, SOPS, SOPS!

Sustain

Arguably, this is the most difficult step. It is human nature to revert to your comfort zone, but there is no growth in one’s comfort zone. Sustainability takes intentional practice every day until it becomes cemented behavior.

AKA: Creating good habits.

+Safety

As contractors, much of our attention and dedication surrounds safety, but often it is instead focused on field operations. We acknowledged this throughout the 5S process and made some easy but significant changes to our shop practices.

Safety changes made to everyday shop practices:

“Nothing hits the floor” - Policy to prevent trip & falls.
“Ladders last” – Policy that, by increasing our aisle spacing, allows for the use of stair towers or forklifts.
Securing our material racking to the floor to prevent “struck by or between” incidents.
Mandatory PPE requirements for all shop workers & visitors.

Although we have dedicated the last year to implementing this 5S system to our warehouse operations, the work is never done. The key takeaway here is the importance of continual improvement – requiring daily attention and that “sustain” mentality. It’s all part of the process.