Seiri, which means organization or sort, is used to put things together or to organize them by using specific rules. And one of the best things about seiri is that once you know and understand the rules that are being used to sort and organize everything you will be able to find the things that you want or need without having to search for them, meaning they will be right there at your fingertips. But another way to look at seiri is that it is about identifying the necessary things and the unnecessary things and then putting the necessary things into order and getting rid of the unnecessary things immediately.

The actual act of sorting things into groups in both the workplace and at home is called stratification management. And all that you need to do in order to accomplish this is to take the actual items themselves and group them into piles. They will be sorted into piles by using some feature that they have in common. For example if you have paints you would sort them by type of paint and the color of the paint.

But seiri is not just about sorting items into groups so that you can easily find things when you are looking for them. Seiri is also about cleaning things up, which can include throwing things away that you no longer need. Or instead of throwing things away you might prefer to just move them into a different area so that you can easily find them if you ever need that item again. And the best part about this is that when you get rid of or put away the things that you are not going to be using in the future you are going to be making room for the things that you are going to be using so that they are easier to find and are for the most part visible.

The main objective of seiri is to clean up the work area. But in addition to organizing your work area doing this also has other benefits besides making the work area look nice. But by cleaning it up and organizing it you will be able to spot things that need to be fixed easier, but you will also be improving safety. The reason that the safety will be improved is because the work area will no longer be cluttered which will increase your work space. And the increased work space will help reduce the number of accidents that you might have. But another benefit to seiri is that it also eliminates clutter and confusion because it is getting rid of tools, equipment, supplies or just plain waste that interferes with getting the job done.

Also when it comes to sorting out the objects that we need and don't need we do this so that we can hopefully avoid any future problems. If we fail to get rid of the clutter or organize our tools that we need to accomplish our work we can face numerous problems. Here is a look at some of the problems that we might face: Operators unable to find the item that they need, which can end up wasting time. Basically the time that is spent searching for the item ends up being a compete waste and if we could easily find the items that we need we would end up saving time. And in most businesses time is money so the less time you spend looking for things the more money you are saving the company. Safety issues when people fall over things Quality issues when certain things are not being done that need to be done because the tools have not been inspected to ensure that they are working properly. If they tools are not working properly there is no guarantee that things are being put together correctly. Stuff that is cluttering up the workplace can make it hard to move around or to even see each other which can make it even harder to communicate

One of the best things about this first step in the % S program is that seiri is not very complicated. In fact when it comes to this phase of the program there are only two major elements to it because of how simple this task is. But just because the task is simple that doesn't mean it is any less important. Here is a look at the two main elements of seiri.

Number one:

Simply taking a very critical look around the work area to see what can be done. This is going to involve cross functional teams because you cannot look at your own workspace to ensure that it is clutter free and all of the useless stuff has been removed. This will be where the teams are supposed to look at other people's areas to ensure that everything that is not needed is removed and the stuff that is needed is organized and easy to access.

Number two:

This would be referred to as red tagging and for the most part it is similar to getting rid of stuff that you are not going to be using, but it is done in a different way to ensure that you do get rid of everything that is not used. What you do in this process is you mark all of your items with a type of tag. On the tag you are going to write down what the item is, where it is located and when you found it in this location. After doing this you will need to leave the area alone expect for the people who use this area for work and then they will need to mark down on the tag when they used that item that was tagged. You allow this to go on for a period of time, one month is a good time frame, and then you go back into the area and look at all of the tagged items to see what hasn't been used or perhaps even moved.

So once you have identified all of the items that haven't been used in that one month period you can actually start to get rid of those items, but some people find that putting them in a separate area before you sell them or throw them away is a better choice just to ensure that you really won't need them. Then you need to look at the items that were being used but not as often as other items. With these items that are used infrequently you are going to want to move them to a different location because having to walk and get them is not going to be that big of a deal because of how little they are used. Not to mention that by moving these infrequently used items you can free up space in the work area that allows you to be more productive and helps you with any quality issues.

Seiri is only the first part of the entire 5 S program and although it is one of the most basic it is still very important that you complete this phase. The reason that you need to do this first is that seiri actually sets the table for the rest of the phases, meaning that if you do not start with seiri then doing the other phases is pointless because the basic building blocks have not been set.

Once you have managed to implement the entire 5 S program into your workplace you will end up having some kind of audit on each aspect of the 5 S programs. The reason that you need to perform an audit on each phase of the 5 S program is to ensure that everything is working out like it is supposed to and that you are making progress. If after the audit you find that your company is not making any kind of progress or that things can still be improved you will need to revisit the first phase to see what else you can do.

Here are some questions that might come up in an audit of the seiri part of the 5 S programs:

• Are there any useless things that can bother your work environment?
• Are there any useless raw materials, semi-finished products and/or waste left as is, near the workplace?
• Are there any tools, spare parts, materials left on the floor, near any equipment?
• Are all frequently used objects sorted, arranged, stored and labeled? Are all measurement instruments/devices sorted, arranged, stored and labeled?
• Does the inventory or in-process inventory include any unneeded materials or parts?
• Are there any unused machines or other equipment around?
• Are there any unused jigs, tools, dies or similar items around?
• Is it obvious which items have been marked as unnecessary?
• Has establishing the 5 S's left behind any useless standards?