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An Introduction to 6S - Don Roll

Contents
Introduction
Using 6S
Getting Ready
Doing the Event
Prepare the Team
Get the Facts
Assess Waste
Make Improvements and Measure Results
Following Up
A Few Tips
The Pay Off
Postscript: The Virtual Office
References
About the Author
Feedback Please

Introduction
Ever take a good look around your office, especially after some hectic period of work? If it gets like mine, it
can look like a cyclone hit it. Drafts of materials stacked on each other. Edited copy on the floor around my
desk. Project reference materials stacked up on my spare table, along with journal articles I put off reading
because I didn't have time to read them when they came in. The focus for most of us is on getting the
work in-hand done and that can mean we let good organization go. Unfortunately, this can become a habit
and, when the work space is shared, it can become a significant hindrance to working efficiently and,
sometimes, safely.

One contribution of the Lean approach to business improvement has been a set of tools that anyone can
leverage to improve workplaces and work processes. One of these tools, 6S (originally labeled 5S; see
Exhibit 1), addresses just the situation I described. Most people may think of it as relating to
manufacturing workplaces, but it is just as applicable to office settings. As with all Lean tools, 6S is about
eliminating waste and maximizing value-added work. To this end, 6S uses its process to create and
maintain an organized, clean, safe, and efficient setting that enables the highest level of value-added
performance. This means eliminating search, travel, transporting materials, inventory, and hazards. It
achieves its ends by introducing organization and orderliness, eliminating unneeded materials, and
establishing self-discipline. In a sense, it transfers some princ iples of "time management" from the "virtual
space of your work schedule" to the physical space of your office or shop area.

Exhibit 1. The Origins of 6S

What we call "6S" derives from "5S" the method of workplace organization
and visual controls popularized by Hiroyuki Hirano (1990). The five "Ss"
refer to five Japanese words—seiri, seiton, seiso, seiketsu, and shitsuke.
Seiri means to separate needed and unneeded materials and to remove
the latter. Seiton means to neatly arrange and identify needed materials for
ease of use. Seiso means to conduct a cleanup campaign. Seiketsu
means to do seiri, seiton, and seiso at frequent intervals and to
standardize your 5S procedures. Shitsuke means to form the habit of
always following the first four Ss.

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The origin of 5S seems rooted in the works of two American pioneers who
were scrupulously studied by Japanese managers. These were Frederick
W. Taylor's Scientific Management (1911) and Henry Ford (1922). Indeed,
Ford's CANDO program (Cleaning up, Arranging, Neatness, Discipline,
Ongoing Improvement), which builds on Taylor's work, appears as the
obvious origin for 5S.

Here are our labels for the 6Ss and their meaning.

Sort - Distinguish between what is needed and not needed and to remove the latter.
Stabilize - Enforce a place for everything and everything in its place.
Shine - Clean up the workplace and look for ways to keep it clean.
Standardize - Maintain and monitor adherence to the first three Ss.
Sustain - Follow the rules to keep the workplace 6S-right—"maintain the gain.".
Safety - Eliminate hazards. (We added this sixth "S" so we could maintain the focus on Safety within
our Lean events and embed safe conditions into all our improvements.)

There are a number of great reasons for using 6S. It is a natural for building teams who share a common
work area. For one thing, every team member benefits from it and for another, it fits common sense.
Everyone has had the experience of losing work, misplacing documents and spending frustrating and
wasteful time looking for them, tripping on objects left in the working place, etc. As a consequence, 6S is a
tool whose value is readily grasped.
Everyone can get their arms around the concept of "a place for everything and everything is in it's place."
Another great quality of 6S is that it is doubly enabling. It enables people to be free of aggravations that
hinder their work and it is a wonderful way to involve people in improving their own work settings. That
enables greater employee empowerment. Finally, the visual impact of a 6S event makes the improvement
it produces impossible to miss and this creates a real sense of a chievement and pride that can form the
beginning of a more significant cultural transition (see Exhibit 2).

Exhibits 2. 6S's Impact Is Easy to Understand

Before After

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Caution

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Do not be mislead by the before and after photos that everyone doing 6S produces. They are valuable
portrayals of measurable improvements, but they rivet attention to the workplace and, in that sense, they
can mislead. 6S may appear to focus on a workplace—sorting, straightening, etc. the area in which people
work, but this is not correct. The root focus of 6S is the work process that is executed in the workplace.
The reason is this. All Lean is about producing products that are fully value adding to a customer. Only
processes that are themselves absolutely value adding (meaning 100% devoid of waste) can produce
such products. While detecting disorganization in a workplace may be obvious, it is not obvious what, in a
concrete sense, good organization is. Should tool X go by work station A or B? Where should we place
the copier in this office to reduce travel and transport? In the center of the workplace? You can't answer
these questions in a way that eliminates waste unless you understand the work process that people
implement in that space and the job each person does. Also, what information should be posted and
where? Again, you can't answer either of these questions if you do not understand the work process
people are implementing. So, the root focus for 6S is the work process, not the workplace. In office
workplaces, where it is common for one area to service many work processes, this is especially critical. It
is quite possible to optimize a workplace for one work process while making it even more problematic for
others using the same space. So an important initial step to applying 6S is to identify the work process you
are to benefit and every other work process using the space you will 6S. Your solutions must serve them
all.

You should also recognize a related point. 6S will need to be recycled, if your company is truly committed
to continuous improvement using, for example, Kaizen. That is because you will modify the work process
over time, meaning that your 6S solutions will also require adjustment.

Using 6S
We use a three phase approach to doing 6S. We get ready for the event, do it, and then follow-up to make
sure our improvements sustain. We adopted steps and materials from the Kaizen method documented in
the Kaizen Desk Reference Standard, with the written permission of the copyright owner (Vital
Enterprises).

Getting Ready

To get ready for the event, we meet with the Exhibit 3. Getting Ready Steps
manager of the work area to identify what he or she
1. Get the customer's expectations.
wants the event to achieve. You need to know the
2. Build a scope document.
manager's idea of how the work process in the target
3. Define a strawperson mission, goals, and
work area needs to improve and what business
"do's and don'ts" for the event.
benefits that improvement should produce. With this
4. Assess whether doing the event makes
information, we describe a scope for the proposed
sense.
event. I do not draft a formal strawperson mission
5. Get the people and the setting ready for
and goals, but I do form an idea of what these
the event.
should be. One change I am considering is adopting
the practice of documenting the strawperson
mission, goals, and "do's and don'ts" as is
recommended in the Kaizen Desk Reference Standard. I can use the electronic form in the Kaizen Tool
Kit, and this should make confirming the manager's expectations for the event easier to do and provide a
surer result. Up until now, however, I have not done this.

Once I confirm the manager’s expectations, we identify the people who will be on the 6S team and talk
with them to assess what they understand about 6S, add to that understanding, and get their judgments
about how effectively the workplace currently supports getting their jobs done. The team is made up of
people working in the setting that we will 6S. Sometimes, that's everyone. Other times, the setting is large
or there may be shift workers. If I can get to visit the work site, I do. There is no substitute for direct
observation and meeting people face-to-face. If not, I use the information from the manager and from my

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conversations with workers to evaluate whether doing the event makes sense. I need to be sure I can use
6S to accomplish the purposes the manager has expressed and provide the improvements that
employees feel will be meaningful. I also need to make sure that there is a good business case for the
event. Events take time. Large events will take as much as five days. I need to see the possibility that 6S
will take out enough waste (travel, transport, excess materials, etc.) to justify its cost. Once I make the
judgment, I share it with the manager and the workers and start the preparation for the event.

First, I want to communicate to the proposed team what our schedule will be and provide them some
pre-event materials to read (e.g., the scope of the event). I also enlist them in getting ideas from their
fellow workers about what workplace improvements would make getting the work done more efficient. I
also let them know that we will post a pre-event flyer in the workplace announcing the event, naming the
team members, and directing workers to them for more information and for sharing their ideas. My last
preparation step is to make sure the logistics for the event are in place. Depending on the type of work
area—shop or office—we have a variety of materials we need for the team to do their job (e.g., clear tape,
clipboards, colored tape, digital camera, double-sided tape, graph paper, wheels for measuring travel
distances, safety equipment). We also need easels and flip chart paper and wall space for recording the
team's findings and ideas and for displaying its mission, goals, and results.

Exhibit 4. Doing
Doing the Event
Steps
1. Open the event.
2. Prepare the
I open the meeting by welcoming everyone, re-introducing myself, and saying team.
what our mission is for the 6S event. I make sure everyone knows each other 3. Get the facts.
or we make introductions. Next I like to use an icebreaker activity to begin 4. Assess waste.
building the team. A good one is having the people share what they like and 5. Generate
don't like about their work area. I remind them to include both their own ideas improvement
and those that other workers in the area shared with them. We summarize ideas.
the workers' thinking, list their concerns and ideas on flip chart paper, post 6. Select the best
them, and refer back to them during the meeting. We use these ideas as part ideas.
of the information to analyze in detecting waste due to workplace 7. Make
disorganization and the lack of visual information. improvements.
8. Measure results.

Prepare the Team

Next, I do a brief introduction to 6S, explaining what it is, how it is done, and showing some
"before" and "after" pictures of other work areas where we have done 6S. We make sure to
use pictures that mirror the setting of the workers with whom we are speaking; otherwise, they
will not have as much value. We also make sure to relate the purpose and benefits of 6S to
the issues the team has raised about its own work area.

This leads naturally to a review of the scope for the event. I support the team in analyzing the
scope and any other materials so we can form a strawperson mission and goals. From the
scope document itself, we draw the "do's and don'ts" for the event. The mission, goals, and
"do's and don'ts" are tentative because we have not done a walk through to directly observe
where the workplace is at with respect to 6S standards. With our tentative direction set, I
review the day's agenda. Finally, the team members build a set of ground rules for how they
will work together and we review the Working With Others skills1, which are essential to
sharing and building on each other's ideas. Then, we get to work.

Get the Facts

The team's first job is data collection. We have several tasks to complete—do a workplace

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layout, take "before" pictures of the workplace, make observations of waste in the workplace,
complete a 6S evaluation of the workplace, and interview workers in the area. We assign one
team member to do the workplace layout and another to do the pictures using the digital
camera we bring to the event. For both these roles, we use the guides supplied in the Kaizen
Tool Kit that accompanies the Kaizen Desk Reference Standard. You can find them in the
book as well (Kaizen Desk Reference Standard, pages 294 and 303-304).

We teach the team members about waste associated with workplace organization and give
them an exercise that confirms their ability to detect waste (see Exhibit 5 for an explanation of
the role waste detection plays in 6S).

Exhibit 5. Why Introduce the Concept of Waste?

Some people may say, "It's just obvious how messy or not a place is.
Why make things more complicated by bringing in this notion of
waste?" That's a good question because it is true that disorganization
in obvious. Why do more than is necessary to fix it? Well, most
businesses look at the bottom line benefits they will receive when
evaluating what they will invest in. While disorganization is obvious,
what is not so obvious is how it measurably affects businesses
performance. Here is where detecting and measuring waste helps.
Waste is the link between disorganization and operating measures.
Travel and transport, for example, eat up time. Time costs money in
many ways (labor cost, longer cycle time). Observe that waste,
measure it, and you can estimate the cost of that waste and the price
the company pays for disorganization.
An even more fundamental reason for including the detection of waste
in a 6S event is that eliminating all waste is one of the pillars of Lean.
Although it may be impossible to imagine, if a disorganized workplace
produced no waste in the process of satisfying customers
requirements, then its disorganization would be irrelevant from a Lean
perspective.
(For more discussion of the relationship between waste, operating
performance, and final business results see pages 244-247 and
255-256 of the Kaizen Desk Reference Standard.)

Next, we introduce the team to the 6S Evaluation form (Exhibit 6). Every team member is
given a copy of the scale and asked to evaluate the workplace after we complete a walk
through. We then prepare the team to do the walk through during which team members make
observations and speak with workers to get their ideas. The team does the interviews using a
modified version of the interview guides in the Kaizen Desk Reference Standard (pages
233–236) (again, with the written permission of the copyright holder).

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Exhibit 6. 6S Evaluation Form

6S Area: [Name the work area] Item score
Before After
Sort (Organization) Distinguish between what is needed & not needed
Have all unnecessary items been removed?
Are walkways, work areas, locations clearly
identified?
Does a procedure exist for removing unneeded
items?
Stabilize (Orderliness) A place for everything and everything in its place
Is there a place for everything?
Is everything in its place?
Are locations obvious and easy to identify?
Shine (Cleanliness) Cleaning and looking for ways to keep it clean
Are work areas, equipment, tools, desks clean and
free of debris, etc.?
Are cleaning materials available and accessible?
Are all aisle markings, location indicators, etc., clean
& unbroken?
Cleaning schedules exist and are posted?
Standardize Maintain & Monitor for adherence
(Adherence) Is all necessary information visible?
Are all standards known and visible?
Are all visual displays current and up to date?
Is there adherence to existing standards?
Sustain Following the rules to sustain
(Self-Discipline) Are procedures being followed?
Does an on-going audit and feedback system exist?
Does a system exist to respond to audit feedback?
Safety Maintaining a safe work place
Is a green tag system in place?
(Zero incidents)
Are appropriate controls in place to identify safety
equipment?
Is all safety equipment unobstructed and accessible?
Total Score
Evaluators Name: Scoring:
0= No problems
1= One to Two problems
2= More than Two problems

Assess Waste

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After the walk through, we pool the observations of waste that derive from how the workplace
is organized and document them in the same form we use in doing Kaizen events (Kaizen
Desk Reference Standard, pages 237–238). The Kaizen Tool Kit provides an electronic
version of this form into which we type our observations. Before we move on, the team
members complete a 6S Evaluation form for the workplace. Each person fills out his or her
own form. Then, I build one for the whole team, getting each member's judgments and
averaging the ratings across team members. If there are differences in ratings, we discuss the
differences. We always rely on the documented observations to make our final judgment.
We next summarize our findings and use these to test whether the mission and goals for the
event are valid, given the facts in the workplace. We adjust either as needed. Before we
consider how to eliminate the waste we observed by applying 6S methods, we make
measurements of the waste we observed. For example, we may measure the distanced
traveled by workers during the work process or the time spent in searching for tools or
materials or we may estimate the amount of scrap in a workplace or the amount of paper
wasted in an office operation. These measures allow us to calibrate which type of waste most
affect the operational performance of the work process we want to improve. Again, we find
that the guides provided in the Kaizen Desk Reference Standard (and in its Tool Kit) are
useful for our measurement purposes (see Task D2. Evaluate the Target Work Process,
pages 267-309).

Make Improvements and Measure Results

Now we get to the best part of the event. The team takes each goal, looks at the observations
associated with it, and generates ideas to eliminate the waste and improve workplace
organization and the display of important information. These actions fall within one of the 6S's.
For example, the team may propose removing unnecessary items in the work area (Sort);
arrange necessary items in an orderly manner that places them nearest to their points of use
(Stabilize); re-paint signs that are faded, walls where paint has failed, replace broken chairs
(Shine and Safety); and write job aids to remind workers of tasks to do to keep the workplace
enabling of their work (Sustain). (See Exhibit 7, next page, for other examples of 6S
improvements.)

Once we select the actions to implement, we verify that the actions we have selected will
actually accomplish the event's goals. All improvements have value, but the priority is given to
those that will accomplish the purposes for which the event was scheduled.
We build an action plan to guide doing an action when it is complex or needs coordinated
action by several team members (see Action Plan Template in the Kaizen Tool Kit, Version
1.5). The team members make the changes and then we recycle the measurements and other
data gathering tasks they completed before we made changes. We always do after pictures
and a 6S Evaluation. If we have attempted to reduce travel and transport, we will redo
measurements of distance traveled during the performance of the work process. Similarly, the
team members will do other measurements needed to judge whether the goals of the events
were accomplished.

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Exhibit 7. Other Examples of Improvement Actions

Shop Office
Physical Work Space Virtual Work Space
Implement red tag Improve Virtual red tag
system workplace layout system
Implement color Introduce point of Improve file/folder
codes and use concepts hierarchy
standards Eliminate Improve disk
Introduce simple ergonomic storage space and
materials Kanban hazards speed of retrieval
Create visual Enhance visual of electronic files
work instructions communication Create standards
Improve methods for file
workplace Alternative management and
layout/reclaim storage scenarios creation
wasted space Improve or create
Create and job aids to
implement eliminate search
sustaining system and defects
with audits
Implement
relevant visual
metrics

Definitions
Color Codes and Standards - Applies selected colors to identify specific functions or
meanings in a workplace. The assignment of colors to functions is standardized across
an organization. For example, we may assign the color yellow to indicate a Kanban area
or some other function like parking area for transient equipment or a storage area for
materials or tools. In a shop setting, we might use of the color white on the floor to
identify personnel walkways.
Kanban - Signal cards (or other visual signaling) used to pull product (product Kanbans)
through a production system or materials from inventory (materials Kanban). Makes
visual the demand for either product or materials. In a Kanban using cards, when a
component is used a card is passed upstream and only then will upstream operations
receive the authority to begin production of a replacement component or replenishment
of needed materials.
Point of Use - Places information visually where it is vital to adding value to the product
or service being produced.
Red Tag System - A method for identifying information and things in the work area that
are not needed for performing day-to-day the work. Each red-tagged item is dated and
moved to a central holding area. If the item is not used after a certain period of time
(maybe between 1 to 6 months), it is then disposed of. A red tag system is an excellent
way to free up valuable floor space and eliminate such things as broken tools, obsolete
jigs and fixtures, scrap and excess raw material in shop settings and unneeded
documents, file cabinets, old correspondence, and office supplies or equipment in office
and service settings. Virtual red tagging create a space on a disk drive as the holding
area for electronic files and folders, but otherwise operates in the same manner.
Virtual - Refers to electronic information and the media on which information is
stored—computer disk drives, back-up media, etc.

Following Up

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The team closes out the event by doing a presentation of what it accomplished and what it will do to
sustain the improvements it made. This presentation is made to all the workers in the area and other
interested groups, including of course the manager who requested the event. We build the presentation
using the event's mission, goals, and "do's and don'ts." This anchors us in what we were to achieve. We
use our before facts (pictures, 6S Evaluation, measurements, and observations of waste) to describe the
problems that existed. Then we share the team's action list, tell about what happened as we made
improvements, and end with the post-event facts (pictures, 6S Evaluation, measurements, and
observations of waste). It works out easily because we have all the information developed and organized
by the time we get to the end of the event.

A Few Tips
Be sure to credit the workers in the work area who were not able to be on the team itself. The
event would not have produced its results if they had not contributed their information and
ideas. Especially credit any improvement ideas that came from them and identify clearly who
provided the ideas. Everyone needs to be recognized for the help they provided. There is the
"6s team"—and you want to make sure you credit its work—but, there is the larger team of
which it is a part. Also, don't leave out the manager who initiated the event. Without his or her
initiative, the event and its good results would never have been achieved. Finally, emphasize
the importance of sustaining the event's gains 3. Consider using a leave-behind measure that
visually displays the improvements that were made and records the data to day sustaining of
both the improvement actions and the benefits they produced. Check out the discussion and
examples of leave-behind measures in the Kaizen Desk Reference Standard (pages 173-174,
341-342, 349, 385).

The Pay Off

While Workplace Organization and Visual Controls (WOVC) events are usually very hard work, most
participants express great pleasure in having participated. The physical change is truly significant, they
have been allowed to positively impact their own workplace with their own ideas, and the area is more
pleasant to work in after their efforts. Many times this participation has served as a springboard for
additional efforts not only for the individual, but for the organization as well. Setting the stage with pure
WOVC events is great for paving the way for other CI activities an organization may be contemplating.

Postscript: The Virtual Office2

Especially in the office environments, we live in two worlds—one physical (rooms, desks or work stations,
papers, equipment) and the other virtual (electronic files, folders, forms). To be effective, 6S needs to go
to the virtual workplace as well as the physical workplace. Here, we have lots of history and prior practice
to draw on that actually pre-dates Lean. For example, former President Jimmie Carter promoted and
signed into law the Paperwork Reduction Act in 1980. The law authorized the Bureau of the Budget (now
the Office of Management and Budget) to coordinate Federal reporting services, eliminate duplication and
reduce the cost of such services, and minimize the burdens of furnishing information to Federal agencies.
One by-product of this effort was the development of an information policy and the information
management function. This function's responsibility systematicall y analyzed information requirements,
identified needed and unneeded information, established standards for each needed information item, and
used this knowledge to eliminate stored information and the paper forms that collected it.

As electronic information systems proliferated, a similar problem emerged. In large organizations,

separate automation products using non-standardized development practices built multiple applications
and databases that held the same information but stored in inconsistent formats and using different data
definitions. This redundant and non-standard information spells waste on many levels—storage space,
processing overhead, duplicative database maintenance overhead, and lost opportunity to leverage

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corporate information assets are just a few examples. One movement that emerged was to develop
corporate-wide information architectures that create one set of information elements, each defined to store
an item of information that has a single definition with respect to its meaning and its data characteristics
(data type, format, size, acceptable values, sourcing, etc.). This straightening and sorting of virtual space
was concretized in a data dictionary that served the enterprise.

Alas, none of these developments have sustained with rigor, as you might rapidly discover if you
investigate both the variety of non-interfacing databases in you own company that store the same
information (customers, products, orders, financial information, etc.). However, the tools these disciplines
used are available for our learning and use within a 6S context and their importance and utility only grows.
And the opportunities for applying 6S to the virtual office are wide open!

Download PDF of
Article

1
These skills are delineated in J.S. Byron and P.V. Bierley, Working With Others (Hope, ME: Lowrey Press, 2003).
2
Thanks to Dr. Raphael L. Vitalo for the information in this section. He has worked in both information resource
management and database design for enterprise information systems.
3
For more detailed help with how to ensure that the results and use of 6S sustain, see Sustaining Improvements:
Lessons Learned. Also, for guidance in how to create a workforce that is motivated to apply lean tools like 6S, see
Creating a Lean-Ready Workforce.

References
Ford, Henry (1922) My Life and Work. (Available online free at http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/7213)

Hiroyuki Hirano (1990) 5 Pillars of the Visual Workplace. Portland, OR: Productivity Press.

Taylor, Frederick W. (1911) Scientific Management. (Available free online at

http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/6435)

Published February 2005; Last revised July 2008

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