Warehouse slotting – the practice of placing inventory items with the highest turnover near the picking/packing/shipping station – is a tried-and-true method to improve picking efficiency, save time, and reduce labor costs. Up to 50% of warehouse picking is travel time, and effective slotting can save over 90 minutes during a single 8-hour shift. The challenge is that rearranging inventory locations isn’t easy. You must make a…
CSS Editorial Staff | May 29, 2026 | 5S, Kaizen, Kanban, Lean
Sustain: Turning 5S from a Project into a Culture Anyone can clean up a workspace for a week. The challenge is keeping it that way. “Sustain” is the fifth and final step in 5S—but in many ways, it’s the most important. It’s where Lean becomes culture, not just a checklist. To sustain 5S, teams need routines, leadership support, and visual tools that reinforce accountability every day. Visual…
CSS Editorial Staff | September 2, 2025 | 5S, Lean | 5S, 5S In Action, Continuous Improvement, Facility Efficiency, Labeling
Make It Stick: How to Standardize 5S Visuals for Long-Term Success Without standardization, even the best 5S efforts eventually fade. After you’ve sorted, set in order, and shined your workspace, the next step is to make those gains repeatable and scalable. Standardization is what transforms short-term wins into long-term systems. And visual tools—signs, labels, floor markings, and more—are what make that standardization stick. From Training to Daily…
CSS Editorial Staff | August 19, 2025 | 5S, Lean | 5S, 5S In Action, Facility Efficiency, Facility Marking, Labeling, Lean
Shine Isn’t Just About Clean—It’s About Control In the 5S system, “Shine” isn’t just about making your facility look good—it’s about creating a culture of care, ownership, and constant improvement. Daily cleaning becomes daily inspection. And every sweep, wipe, and polish is a chance to spot issues before they become problems. A clean facility is a safe facility—and visual systems are key to keeping it that way.…
CSS Editorial Staff | August 5, 2025 | 5S, Lean | 5S, 5S In Action, Continuous Improvement, Facility Efficiency, Facility Marking, Labeling
After sorting comes the second S in 5S: Set in Order. But setting things in place means more than putting tools on a shelf—it’s about strategic placement, visual consistency, and creating a workspace where everything has a clearly defined home. When every tool, bin, and material is easy to locate (and even easier to put back), teams waste less time, reduce motion, and stay focused on the…
CSS Editorial Staff | July 8, 2025 | 5S, Lean
Sorting is the first step in transforming a cluttered, chaotic workspace into an efficient, safety-first environment. But too often, it’s treated like a one-time clean-up instead of what it truly is: the foundation of a sustainable, organized workplace. If you’re ready to put Lean thinking into motion, “Sort” is where it all starts—and visual organization is your most powerful tool. The Cost of Visual Clutter A…
CSS Editorial Staff | June 24, 2025 | 5S, Lean, Visual Safety | 5S In Action
Creative Safety Supply was honored to have the opportunity to interview a Lean manufacturing expert. In this interview, Andrew McCall of Creative Safety Supply talks to Brion Hurley of Business Performance Improvement about the concept of 5S and its implementation in businesses. Brian discusses the eight wastes of Lean, emphasizing inventory as a commonly overlooked waste. He explains that while inventory is necessary for operations, it also…
CSS Editorial Staff | June 5, 2023 | 5S, Lean, Training | 5S, Facility Efficiency, Lean, Lean Culture, Lean Manufacturing, Six Sigma
The beginning of the new year offers a great opportunity to not only evaluate our personal performance, but our professional performance as well. It’s possible to create a better quality of life in the workplace; there’s always room for improvement, bad habits to kick, and small changes to make. Consider the year that’s now behind you. What was successful, and what failed? Improving safety is at the…
Laura Myers | December 31, 2019 | 5S, Safety Products, Safety Solutions | Regulations & Compliance, Safety, Workplace Safety
Most people associate spring cleaning with clearing out the attic or organizing the closet, but the same energy can be applied to the workplace! Spring is an excellent opportunity to evaluate your facility and organize for efficiency. Focus on getting rid of items cluttering the workplace and making an environment that allows for more productive work. 5s: One of the best ways to tackle an organizational project…
Jesse Allred | April 12, 2019 | 5S
When learning the 5S methodology, the vast majority of the time spent will be on the first four S’s. The last S, which stands for Shitsuke, or Sustain, however, is almost certainly going to be the most important one. Without this S, all the others would quickly fall out of use, and the progress that a workplace makes would be lost. With this in mind, let’s take…
Tony Ferraro | January 16, 2017 | 5S | 5S, Sustain
When learning about the 5S program most people can quickly see how it can be helpful and improve efficiency in the facility. The whole strategy is quite easy when looking at it at a high level. If you’re not careful, however, it can get confusing with the actual implementation. This is because some of the “S’s” in the strategy aren’t quite as clear as they seem at…
Tony Ferraro | August 10, 2016 | 5S | 5S
When looking to help a facility run more efficiently you will find that there are many ideas and methodologies out there that can help. Two of the most popular (and most effective, when done properly) are 5S and Kaizen. Both of these concepts are quite similar, but there are important distinctions that one should be aware of before implementing either of them. It is important to note…
Tony Ferraro | April 22, 2016 | 5S | 5S, Kaizen
Elimination of Waste Whether you are implementing a specific program like Lean or 5S to help improve efficiency or you are just looking for a way to eliminate waste in your facility, it is a good idea to look at what has worked for other companies in the past. Fortunately, there is a lot of data and stories from all sorts of companies that have been gathered…
Tony Ferraro | March 2, 2016 | 5S | 5S, Facility Efficiency, Facility Marking, Floor Marking, Forklift Safety, Lean Manufacturing, Organized Workplace, Regulations & Compliance, Safety Signs, Six Sigma, Valve Tags
Improve Efficiency and Eliminate Facilities know that using 5S strategies is supposed to improve efficiency and eliminate waste throughout the facility. This, of course, is a very attractive goal that every company will want to take advantage of. Unfortunately, many companies and departments don’t properly measure 5S performance, so they have trouble proving whether or not it was successful. In addition to being unable to prove the…
Tony Ferraro | February 18, 2016 | 5S | 5S
