5S In The Office, by Kevin Gingerich
Save Time through Better Organization
Many companies implement 5S programs (Sort, Straighten, Shine, Standardize and Sustain) in the shop to regain time lost to disorganization - looking for tools, parts or other necessary work items that may be lost in clutter somewhere. These programs are invariably successful and make for a more orderly and productive work environment.
Less common are 5S programs that include the office as part of a whole company approach. But if you think about it, how much time do office employees spend looking for paper documents or computer files? A little 5S can cut this time dramatically.
To understand the potential opportunity, it's often helpful to do a time study. Simply pick an employee in your office (preferably someone whose pretty good-natured) and watch them work for a half hour or so. Record the amount of time it takes for them to find and retrieve files. Multiply this out across the day, to figure out how much waste is taking place. (You can also try this with your own work.)
Then, put your data or hard copy files through a rigorous 5S program, but pay very close attention to the data. Because 5S improvements are usually easy to see, it's easy to forget electronic data like emails, which are personally managed rather than via network directory structures. You may be amazed at how much time you can gain back.
For more on 5S in the office, a quick Google search will turn up dozens of resources.