How to clean up the principles of kaizen: a step by step guide
'02.01.2021'
Source: Life hacker
Kaizen is a practice that was invented in Toyota factories to bring work processes to perfection while spending a minimum of money on organizing production. This is how the principles of the absence of large warehouses, constant quality control, monitoring the process in search of flaws and much more were formulated. Including the 5S system, with which the study and implementation of the kaizen system usually begins. It is successfully used for ... cleaning, writes Life hacker.
5S: sorting, organizing, keeping clean, standardizing, improving are the principles on which ideal work should be built.
At home we have classes no less than at work, so why not use useful tips for personal purposes? 5S are sometimes perceived only as compulsory cleaning of workplaces at the end of the work day, so the results are not visible. What is the point of putting things in places if they are inconvenient to use! No, with the help of simple cleaning the car can not be assembled
5S is a workplace organization tool for efficient performance of functions. Kaizen cleaning can bring certain results. There should be more space, daily activities will become easier, and keeping your home clean will become a natural habit. Kaizen implies an endless pursuit of perfection, so don't expect your home to shine with just one general cleaning. Kaizen is introduced gradually, which will take time.
The purpose of cleaning is not just to keep it clean. The main task is to create a space in an apartment or in a house that will be convenient and easy to clean. There is not much to do for this. And you have to think a lot. The speed and comfort of cleaning will depend on your decisions.
Tools that need to stock up before cleaning: colored stickers (they will act as kanban - the icon marking the object), enthusiasm and willingness to change the usual order. Go to the system 5S.
1. Sorting
This is a clear division of things into necessary and unnecessary, and you must quickly get rid of the latter.
How can I do this? First, you need to free up space in the middle of the room, there we will temporarily send things for which there is no place. Then define the zone from which to start sorting. Be sure to take the position in which you function in place. If it's a desk, sit on a chair. If it's a wardrobe, stand in front of the mirror. If it's a kitchen, stand by the sink or stove. This is the starting point from which you will decide how and what to do with things.
Take in the hands of any object and answer a few questions:
- How much do I need this item?
- Do I need this item here?
- How often do I use it?
- When did I pick it up last time?
If the item is needed in this place, it is often used and must be at arm's length, then mark it with a green sticker. Target items that are rarely used are marked in yellow.
If the item is not needed in this place, transfer it to where it should be. If you don't know where to send it right now, paste the orange one and fold it in the middle of the room. If you haven't picked up the item for more than six months, it will receive a red mark.
What to do with red marks? Optimally - throw away. Kaizen philosophy is incompatible with large stocks, one of its tenets is to reduce storage space. Of course, not everything is so simple. Sometimes the lack of inventory is simply unprofitable, but we are used to folding “just in case” old things, broken equipment, and what if it comes in handy?
Throw junk and garbage without pity!
Give an honest answer to the question, when will you finish embroidering this pillow, which you started in school at a needlework lesson? When will you assemble a third working fan from two broken fans? When will the fashion for a dress that is still nothing come again? Now or never. It is enough to throw away all the trash to make the house much cleaner. After all, keeping a dusty museum in your home is unprofitable: just count the cost of renting a few square meters per year in your area.
On the subject: Tips for the hostess: the perfect cleaning schedule to help you remember nothing
2. Compliance or ordering
Necessary things should be stored so as to quickly find and use. This is pure ergonomics, only your experience and your practice should help here. When you put things in their places, it is important to get rid of the patterns that were fixed in the behavior. If you are accustomed to, that the chair is always to the right of the sofa, because your parents always put it that way, then you may think it is worthwhile to place the chair where it will be comfortable?
Finding out that you are folding things wrong is very easy. If one and the same object is constantly out of place, then it is not for him. Your task is to find such a space for each thing, in which it will be convenient to return it. When it is convenient not only to take an object, but also to put it back, cleanliness is brought to automatism.
If items are used together, keep them nearby. Closer - with green markers. With yellow - away. Getting to any object with a green mark should be easy, the trajectories of your movements should be very simple. For example, a box with decorations fits well on the top shelf, but you take it out every day, and you have to reach the shelf. So this place is not suitable.
Place similar items in containers. Determine your purpose for each drawer. If you keep equipment in one place, do not put documents there. Distribute them in different folders. And do not be lazy to sign boxes and folders!
Do not be afraid to spend money on functional furniture and quality tools. Good furniture is half your success. During the cleaning process, changing the situation immediately will not work, but you will be able to outline a plan of changes.
Do not hurry. Kaizen is a gradual change, not a revolutionary change.
3. Keep clean
Consider steps that will help keep your house in order every day. For example, if in the closet between the shelves is too large a distance, then large stacks of things get lost and crushed. To prevent this from happening, change the distance between the shelves and make it smaller — you will put as many things on them and they will not be crumpled. Given the prevalence of furniture atelier such a task will be your strength.
If you have many rooms, it makes sense to put a waste basket in each one. This is how apathy is overcome: when you don't want to carry the papers from the table into the trash can, just throw them into the basket under the table, and once a day collect waste from all over the apartment.
Determine the sources of debris, crumbs and dirt and put barriers in the way: lay rugs in front of the door or make room for a scoop and brushes near the kitchen table, so as not to run after him into another room every time you need to sweep.
Little things like that that diminish our work seem like an easy solution for the lazy. But even if you're ready to rush to clean the floors at any second, they will save you time.
4. Standardization
Cleaning and cleanliness rules should be binding on everyone, and good solutions should be standardized and applied in practice. At home, it is hardly worth posting instructions and collecting signatures from all family members under the cleaning schedules, but it will be useful to formalize the responsibility of each for one area of work orally.
Few people love to get out. But no wonder we are looking for solutions for the lazy.
Standardize the reward system: if someone offers a new ergonomic solution, you need to be sure to reward it. Especially good way to work when you need to stimulate children. Children's fantasy is the best source of non-standard solutions, even when it comes to cleaning.
On the subject: Life hacks for the hostess: what to do if there is a cleaning from 3 minutes to an hour
5. Perfection
The principles of the system should become a habit, so you want to make your home better with every cleaning. It makes no sense every week to sort all the things in the apartment, but repeating a general cleaning with color labels is useful once every few months. Include in your budget planning funds for renovating and renovating your furniture. Draw the layout of things and do not be afraid to make changes. Evaluate results with before and after pictures.
