10 January 2018

Lean Office: 4 +1 tricks to make your workplace more productive

lean office

Lean is not a system exclusively designed for implementation in production environments. In fact, moving towards a Lean Office can help your business achieve higher levels of productivity., reducing inefficiencies and preventing waste generation.

Table of contents

4 ways to achieve a Lean Office

The Lean Office concept It is based on the principles of lean methodology, transferred to an office environment. This is a systematic and methodical approach that allows teams to organise their workspace in the safest and most efficient way, work effectively, reduce unnecessary steps and gain discipline to achieve increased performance.

Team commitment is as important as management support, but the key element for consistent change is culture.. Without the support of corporate values to take the idea of a Lean Office from theory to practice, It is unrealistic to set a more streamlined approach to work as an objective.

The discipline that involves the adjusted methodology translates into a solid foundation on which to build continuous improvement, an increase in job security, a significant boost to employee motivation levels, through the sense of ownership, participation and responsibility they acquire, a waste-free workspace and the optimisation of performance, as a result of the combination of improved productivity, quality and morale.

Lean Office is synonymous with profitability, and you can achieve it in 4 different ways:

  1. Using more visual management and communication systems.
  2. Trying to standardise processes, as far as possible, reducing unnecessary steps.
  3. Taking advantage of Applications, software and any technological tools that can help increase productivity and efficiency. Real-time computing options
  4. Removing barriers in workspaces and making them more transparent, to promote accessibility, collaboration, and agility. It's almost a prerequisite for a Lean Office.

The 5S Method in a Lean Office

Now that you've made sure you've put in place all the necessary practices that will help you achieve your office transition to a Lean Office, You need to lay the foundations to ensure that it does not cease to be so. What you need is known as The 5S method.

This methodology is based on five steps: sort – straighten – shine – standardise – sustain, which translated into our language would be as follows:

  1. Order: Classify and separate what is needed from what is not within each area.
  2. Straighten: to have everything prepared and ready to use. It is important to identify the locations of all items so that anyone can find them and return them once the task for which they were required has been completed.
  3. Polishing: clean the workspace and equipment regularly to maintain standards and identify defects.
  4. Standardise: Review the first three steps frequently and ensure they continue to foster alignment with standard procedures.
  5. Sustain: Follow the rules to maintain the standard of order and continue to improve every day.

The benefits of workplace organisation according to the 5S method are notable across all sectors, helping to achieve high-impact results and supporting strategy. Lean Office you have decided to implement.

Edenred Spain

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