Although office and administrative activities are usually 60 percent of the production costs in most manufacturing organizations, these areas often get excluded during lean initiatives. To achieve lean, office activities must fully support shop floor manufacturing operations to eliminate waste. The adoption of 5S throughout all office and administrative functions is the first step to increase efficiency.

In 5S for the Office: Organizing the Workplace to Eliminate Waste, Tom Fabrizio and Don Tapping bring the concepts of the 5S System -- effective tools for the elimination of waste on the shop floor -- into the office environment. The activities at the heart of 5S for the Office (organizing, ordering, cleaning, standardizing, and sustaining all of these) are completely logical. They are the basic rules for managing any effective workplace. However, it is the systematic method with which the 5S system approaches these activities that makes it unique.

This book is a blueprint for building a Lean foundation for your office

Readers of this book can immediately apply the concepts of 5S to their office and administrative activities, resulting in the elimination of waste, reduced production costs, and increased profits.

To introduce the 5S system and sell its use to executives as well as workers, consider purchasing—

5S System: An Introduction DVD Catalog no. PP5934,

Adhering to the principle of efficiency that defines this revolutionary and proven system, this video succinctly explains what is involved, who should participate, and what it will take to get started.