Packrattery, Chaos and their Countermeasure, 5S

“Jaded Julie, did you know that there are two kinds of people?”

“I know, Curmudge, that there are lots of two kinds’s—male and female, right-handed and left-handed, Democrats and Republicans, and many more.”

“The two kinds that I was thinking of are savers and thrower-outers. And among the savers are two subgroups, the packrats who never throw anything out and those disorganized people who never put anything back where it belongs.”

“It seems to me, Curmudge, that the two kinds of savers aren’t really very different. When a packrat acquires too much ‘stuff,’ his storage area becomes chaotic. And when a disorganized person can’t find something, she orders more than she needs; and her chaos begins to look like packrattery.”

“I trust you know the Lean tools used to mitigate this problem, 5S and kanban. We talked about 5S back on July 10, 2008.”

“Of course I recall. 5S stands for Save, Store, Stockpile, Stash, and Sequester.”

“Julie! You know that 5S in Lean language means Sort, Straighten/Set in order, Sweep/Scrub, Standardize, and Sustain.”

“I know, Curmudge. I was just making sure that you hadn’t dozed off. So if I may play the skeptic, why would someone devote the time and effort to 5S something?”

“In patient care—especially places like the ED and OR—when something is urgently needed for treating a patient, it must be available right now. There isn’t time to run around the department searching. For that matter, people shouldn’t have to search for things in any department.”

“In addition to being more efficient, an area that has been 5S’d looks better.”

“That’s for sure, Julie. How would you feel if you were a patient or a visitor in a hospital where Fibber McGee’s closet was behind every door? It would look as if the hospital couldn’t get its act together, including the care of its patients. The horrible impression would overshadow all of our talk about personalized care.”

“(I have no idea what this Fibber McGee stuff is, but knowing the Old Guy, it must be from old-time radio.) Since 5S is a Lean tool, the process must start with Plan from the Plan, Do, Check, Act cycle. Maybe we should call the process P5S.”

“Don’t confuse things, Julie. Because all processes begin with planning, let’s consider the ‘P’ to be silent, like the ‘P’ in pneumonia. After that, everything starts with ‘S’, and it’s all spelled out in Implementing 5S and Kanban in Lean Projects available from the Kaizen Promotion Office.”

“You know, Curmudge, the first three S’s are pretty straightforward. One can have everything in order and looking great, and you can walk away with a feeling of accomplishment. But then, as you taught me in 2008, disorder sets back in and the place gets messy again. I guess that’s why we have the last two S’s, Standardize and Sustain.”

“Exactly. These two S’s occur after the 5S project and are more like management than kaizen. An owner is assigned to the area, a checklist is developed, and monthly audits are scheduled. Before-and-after photos and posted audit results serve as visual management. Staff members not involved in the project should be trained in the culture that specifies ‘a place for everything and everything in its place.’ Management will require accountability for maintaining the gains that were achieved.”

“Curmudge, I presume that there’s been a lot of 5S’ing going on around here since the concept was introduced.”

“There sure has. Here are just a few examples from the St. E’s campus: the hospital pharmacy, 4 West as part of its conversion from subcritical to oncology, Behavioral Health in 1531 S. Madison, and the Kaizen Promotion Office. I’ve probably forgotten several others, but for a senior citizen, that’s allowed.”

“You mentioned kanban earlier, Curmudge? You sounded as if 5S and kanban go together like peanut butter and jelly.”

“They do, Julie, and we’ll talk about that soon.”

Affinity’s Kaizen Curmudgeon

Check out the latest posting in Curmudge and Jaded Julie’s personal blog, Curmudgeon’s Wastebasket.