Many of us in the northern hemisphere are excited for our spring season. Warmer & longer days, melting snow, green grass and the return of baseball. This is also traditionally a time when we assess the clutter we’ve amassed during the fall and winter. Trimming trees, removing debris and cleaning closets as our wardrobe needs change.
Sort is the first step in the 6S journey. This is the process of deciding what is important to have nearby or easy to access. On the shop floor this is performed by the work team of a functional cell. Nothing is overlooked and all items are evaluated on the basis of their need to be in the area. Items that are questionable are placed in a special area slightly away from the immediate work area. Often red tags are placed on the items and usage is cataloged if the items are actually used during a set amount of time. Any tagged items that are not used are removed from the work area and distributed elsewhere as surplus.
Desk areas should be routinely assessed in a similar manner. I have a cup of pens that I collect and I get to a point where I have too many as they overrun the cup. Notes, business cards, brochures and other collateral collect and take up space adding to the clutter. Throw-in colored pages and various plastic block creations the kids have gifted and I can regularly fill a box of unneeded desk items.
Our digital space is not immune from this issue although we like to think space is cheap and vast. Desktops in our OS, email inboxes and outdated documents all consume valuable space and increase the waste of time while searching for the right data. The effectiveness of searching for data is directly impacted by how we sort and tag. 3DEXPERIENCE has great tools to tag data with 6W attributes and powerful searches to narrow the results based on many factors. But having data that is not needed will slow the searching process. It’s a healthy balance to retain files and data for a period of time but it’s also best to regularly purge those that are unused.
Look around at the home office, desk and your data centers to see what needs sorting in your environment. If you’re brave ask a colleague, spouse or friend to help you assess what’s really needed.
