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Copyright Graham Ross of Leankaizen LtdAll rights reserved. Do not copy or distribute without written permission

The 3S Office Organisation Toolkit

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Introduction

This 3S Office Organisation toolkit is designed to get you started in eliminating the

wasted time associated with having to search for items in the office.

Research shows that we waste up to an hour each day looking for items.

It doesnt need to e this way.

Try using the techni!ues descried in your own office. It works.

"ll the est

Regards

#raham Ross$ %anaging &irector$ 'eankai(en 'td

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So what is 3S and what is it all about?

'eankai(en developed the idea of 3S for Offices. )It is ased on the *S techni!ue

which works very well in %anufacturing environments+

Simply put$ the 3S techni!ue is a great way to de,clutter your Office environment

and improve your -orkspace Organisation .This in turn leads to improved !uality

and productivity.

The 3S technique is fundamental to creating a

Continuous Improvement Culture

3S is if you like is the concrete that we uild a 'ean Organisation upon.

3S is a techni!ue for creating a high performance workplace that is clutter free and

has a place for everything and everything in its place/.

3S is a structured way of implementing e0cellent office organisation.

3S helps you facilitate an efficient working environment that people in the

organisation can e proud of.

3S is in not 1ust aout housekeeping and keeping the place tidy. 3s helps you

determine what things in the office are needed and where they are needed.

The 3S techni!ue is intolerant of waste and helps you develop an environment

where items are easier to find. It creates a physical

orderliness that makes anormality 1ump out and scream at you.

"dopting 3S rings a neater$ easier to understand office that has improved

productivity$ with fewer errors. It makes the processes of dealing with customer

information more predictale. It creates a etter working environment which is free

of clutter leading to 22. Stress reduction

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Eamples of waste caused b! poor workplace organisation

ere are 1ust a few e0amples of the types of thing we waste time on due

to lack of -orkplace Organisation. "re any of these true for your office4

Only one person knows where stationery is kept

5ou cant find a trolley to move files when we need one

Searching for %issing keys for a room$ cupoard or filing cainet

5ou cannot find a file on your computer system

So what are the 3S?

The 3S are as follows

6.Sort

7.Straighten

3.Sustain

'et me take you through each S and what they are all aout

The first S " Sort

Sort means$ clearly distinguishing etween8

6+ -hat is needed in the office and should e kept.

7+ -hat is not needed in the office and should e removed

#If in doubt move it out$

Take a walk through you own office. %any of the items you oserve will no longer

e re!uired$ or have never een re!uired. %any will e roken and need fi0ed$ or

have een orrowed/ from a different department and never returned. Some will

e simply in the wrong place or are poorly laelled and not well identified.

The first S % Sort &continued'

In general all of this amounts to #clutter$

ow many pencils$ pens$ ruers$ envelopes$ rolls of tape does

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any one individual need4

Often we hoard stationery much like pirates capturing treasure and woe etide

anyone who tries to get if off us9

The amusing thing is that although we all seem to hoard private

collections we constantly run out of items as there is no real office system

in place.

(ocked )iling cabinets with unknown contents are another good eample*

Oh that filing cainet was used y :oe ut he moved 3 months ago

and I think there is still some of his paperwork in it/

;eople seem to leave their paperwork &

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The first S " Sort " The +ed Tagging ,rocess

One very practical way to sort out what we need from what we dont need

is y conducting a red tagging process. This involves using conspicuous red tag

laels to attach to o1ects that we dont think should e in the area or are not in

good order.

The %ain steps are as follows8,

Inform everyone ahead of time that a red tag process will

e taking place in the office and that everyones help will e needed

#ather a small team from within the office )say =,> people+.?ocus on doing a

small area well rather than a large area superficially

%ake red tags

#et a sheet to record the red tagged items

Identify an area to store the red tagged items temporarily )near to the office+

Identify red tag targets and criteria , Typically if something has not een

used within a month then we may chose to red tag that item

"ttach red tags to targets$ document the activity on the log sheet

and then move them into the red tag area

Review and disposition the red tag items in the red tag area

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-hat are the t!pical t!pes of red tag targets we go after in an Office?

&esks

Stationery

?illing @ainets

?iles and ?olders

Out of date documents

Aooks

Aroken or unused B!uipment )Telephone$ ?a0$ ;.@.+

@orrespondence

Ausiness ?orms

;aper

@atalogues

Shelves

@hairs

,lease note " -e must never red tag people C its not ig or clever although often

tempting9

Once all items have een red tagged then the team should review

each item in the red tag area to agree on the appropriate course of action

Typical courses of action are as follows

Re,organise storage of item

Sell item

Re,locate item

Repair item

#ive away item

&ispose of item Re, lael item

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So at the end of the first S stage$ Sort$ we should have separated thosethings we need from those things we dont need.

Ay clearing away these red tagged items the office should already start to havesome more space. It creates a etter environment for the ne0t S$ Straighten.

The Second S. Straighten

Straighten means organising the way needed things are kept so that anyone canfind them easily

There must e a limit to how much of each item can e stored

%ake the items easy for anyone to find$ use and return

There must e a location for all needed things

)or ever! item we need to indicate/

-hat it is

-here it is stored

The "mount there should e of that item

-hen we straighten/ the office here are 1ust a few of the things we are

trying to achieve

Bliminate searching time$ for documents$ staplers$ markers etc

%ake things easier to get to and use , most fre!uently used items neary

%ake things easy to put ack , maintain the orderliness

%ake thing understandale at a glance , visual controls

"void private collections , share e!uipment like staplers etc

Orderliness is meaningless unless everyone knows where things are kept and where

they should e returned to. " lot of time needs to e spent laelling and positioning

items so that they can e understood at a glance as you walk through the office.

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The Third S. Sustain

The third S$ Sustain means reviewing first 7Ss regularly to identify sources of

anormality and make further improvements to the office organisation. It is

concerned with making the first 7 Ss unreakale. If we have done a good 1o of

sort and straighten then we dont want to creep ack to our old ways. -e need to

audit the office on a daily asis to check we are sustaining the new organised

environment.

If as you walk through the office it is clear that the new organised environment isslipping ask why/ * times till you get to the route cause of the prolem

-e then need to take action.

)or instance

SortC use a few red tags every day and avoid clutter uilding up

StraightenC continually think of ways to make it impossile to put things in thewrong pace. ?ind the sources of clutter and develop counter measures.

0udit, "udit the workplace on a regular asis .Dse @hecklists and visually

display the results.

Train C Train all new employees aout the 3S

-e need to create an environment where the 3S has een adopted as a way of life

around the office and people are continually thinking of ways to make things even

etter.

Once you have created a fantastic workspace guess what$ unless you maintain

discipline then very !uickly it will revert ack to the old clutter and inefficiency that

you had efore.

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Copyright Graham Ross of Leankaizen Ltd


This is the end of the 3S Toolkit

I hope you found this short toolkit of use and that it will have given you an

approach to tackle clutter in your office.

If you have any feedack or !uestions for me$ #raham Ross$ please feel free to

call me on E6=F>3E>3EF or contact me via the wesite contact page

at http8GGwww.leankai([email protected]

-e wish you all the est in your 3S efforts.

#raham Ross$ %anaging &irector$ 'eankai(en 'td

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