Seiri is the first step of the 5S method, which means organizing or sorting out of the necessary equipment or even materials of both the required and non-required items. This is the identification of best physical organization of a certain workplace. Moreover, it is also a series of different steps, which help in identifying the things that are being held in workplace when they should not or the things that are being held in wrong place.
This has two major goals:
• To reduce the wastes
• To remove all the unnecessary objects
What are the objects are we talking about here? Why should we remove the objects that are not needed?
Well, in Seiri, the redundant objects might range from the empty boxes through the different bins of the rejected parts to the obsolete machinery in the workplace. Some of the objects may have some value but are inappropriate such as the jerry-rigged tools that mainly substitute for the proper equipment repair.
As you can observe, lots of workplaces are cluttered with the things that are no longer necessary. This does not apply inside a certain factory. There are offices that have libraries of the obsolete binders or manuals, or even filing cabinets that have outdated records that must be archived offsite.
Here are some of the good reasons for using Seiri:
• Sell the materials in order to realize the scrap value
• Free up the production space for your new business
• Free up the warehouse or office space in order to reduce the rental costs
• Save time when it comes to looking for a certain item that is needed the most
• Save time when it comes to making an inventory
• Save time when it comes to removing the goods mainly because there is a lesser clutter in your way
What does it really mean to reduce the waste?
Seiri mainly goes beyond just reducing the waste material through identifying all the hindrances while generating the ideas for the improvements.
How to sort the things out
It is the duty and responsibility of the management to commit employee’s effort and time such as making a plan and training. The steps mainly require teams. The smallest team must consist of representative line worker from production side, and maintenance technician. This will then provide well-rounded perspective right during the review. The supervisors must be included in the team. Always remember to involve the night shift personnel either as separate teams or even integrating them for the duration of the step.
Seiri is all about eliminating the unnecessary parts, instructions, and tools. It is always a must to have continuous education when it comes to maintaining the standards. If you are among those who are looking for the best way to make your workplace or office even more organized, trusting Lean 5S is definitely a wise move. You will surely be provided with proper knowledge on how to sort all the things in the workplace, thus resulting to handful of benefits since you will now have a workplace that is conducive for working.
— Slimane Zouggari