5S is a Japanese tool for workplace, office and shop floor improvement. It is also regarded as good housekeeping tool. This tool is combination of five words and every word contains S as first letter in both Japanese and English languages.

5S philosophy is focused for improving processes, reducing wastes, saving time, providing safe and healthy environment.
In daily office routine work, persons waste considerable amount of time in locating file, searching for specific documents and similarly search for specific document in computer. All this is due to lack of proper documentation and files management system.

These problems may be solved, by applying 5S principles in the organization. 5S will not only solve problems, but will also increase productivity and efficiency of employees and will serve the needs of employer. The steps involved in its implementation are as follows:

1. Items of not common use (Scissor, tape, highlighter, pin remover etc) must be kept in separate drawers.
2. Documents for dispatch should be kept at a distance from your working table.
3. Food items should be kept in food related places.
4. All necessary accessories for help should be placed in separate place or drawer.
5. Folders and files, which are not being used, may be placed at their appropriate shelf.
6. Common stationery and common use items (Tissue, rubber) must be kept within hand easy approach. Also try to keep minimum amount of stationery.
7. Computer’s mouse and keyboard should be placed in front of you with easy use of hand and fingers.
8. Working chair should be revolving so that you can easily move around and excess things.
9. Place telephone towards right hand side along with phone directory and note pad for writing any important messages. Also highlight special and commonly used phone numbers for easy access.
10. Clock and calendar may be shown at your PC desktop.
11. Each drawer of your table should be clearly marked with the title of drawer. For example you can mark drawers as letters, notes, memorandum etc.
12. Always keep those items that are continuously or occasionally in use. And keep those items at separate place, which are not being used from certain period of time.
13. You can buy some plastic trays that contain items according to their respective sizes and ultimately you can manage things accordingly.
14. Keep the background of your computer display simple and make shortcuts of commonly used folders.
15. Arrange software shortcuts according to their categories.
16. Keep the shortcuts of commonly used Softwares at desktop.
17. Keep files and documents at their respective locations in your PC and don’t keep them at desktop. Also give proper names to each file, so that you can search in case you forgot its location. File name can also include its revision number and its date of creation.
18. Delete all those files from computer those are not useful. Also you can make database of the files on some recording media.
19. Add websites in cookies, those are being used regularly, to save time.
20. Try to categories stationery items according to their use and arrange them accordingly. Items that are being used frequently need to be placed first and then place items according to their usage after that.

There are number of benefits that can be achieved by 5S implementation, it improves moral of employees and it provides positive impression to customers. 5S helps in reducing wastes and better quality products and products are produced with shorter lead times and ultimately organization gets renowned in the market.

Author Bio: Ammar writes for World-Class-Manufacturing.com, a free resource for Lean Manufacturing and TPM, where you can find more information about 5S implementation

Category: Business Management
Keywords: 5S, Lean, Office