5S: Sort: Remove Everything From Its Place

So, how do we begin?

Definition of SORT (Seiri): Distinguish between the necessary and the unnecessary and get rid of what you don't need.

Rule: You must touch every item.

I once led a team through a 5S project on their nursing unit. For the first step of sorting, you remove everything from the area that you are 5S'sing. Yes, every item from every shelf, closet, dusty corner, and desk drawer in the 5S area.

Then you must thoughtfully consider each
and every item as you remove it.

You need to decide if it is indeed necessary or not. If it is not used, place it aside and plan for its removal. Remember that a group decision needs to be made as to whether to keep or discard an item. Just because it is not used on day shift doesn't mean that night shift has no use for it either. The item might be indispensable to them.

Some teams get stuck on how to get rid of the excess items removed in the 5S process. Some items are easy to remove, such as expired supplies. Items such as old equipment are harder to deal with. What do you do with a piece of old equipment that you no longer use even if it works fine and it is just out of date? Is it on your department's inventory list and therefore seen as a business asset? Be sure to check on that before discarding and then check with your business's finance department to remove it from your business inventory as you remove it from your shelf.

Consider stewardship of resources. Can you donate the item to another department or organization who would use it before you just toss it in the dumpster? Not only is stewardship good for the world, it can be good for the bottom line.

I think that one of the hardest parts of the 5S process is making sure that those unnecessary items actually get removed from the workplace area and are appropriately discarded.

In the process of clearing out a cabinet on the nursing unit that day, the team found a $20,000 piece of equipment that belonged to Respiratory Care. It had been used on a patient and when no longer needed was placed in the cabinet and forgotten about. Respiratory Care had been looking for that expensive piece of equipment and was considering the implications of needing to buy a replacement.

This exercise identified a breakdown in process that the team addressed. They established a process for what to do with equipment after use. Respiratory Care placed a green sticker on all of their equipment with instructions for returning it to the Respiratory Care department.