A few months ago Creative Safety Supply donated a variety of 5S supplies to an auto shop at Portland Community College. CSS also worked with the college to help make their facility safer and more efficient. You can read more about the changes made here. After I seen the success of this project I decided to work with a fairly large auto repair shop to assist in…
Tony Ferraro | January 16, 2014 | 5S | Facility Efficiency, Facility Marking, Labeling, Lean Manufacturing, Organized Workplace, Rack Labeling, Safety, Safety Signs, Tool Organization, Workplace Safety
“The squeaky wheel gets the oil,” goes the old adage, but what happens when you can’t find the oil to begin with? I was recently tasked with the re-organization of a machine shop’s maintenance room and, let me tell you, I had a hard time finding anything before we cleaned up. The more businesses I see, I notice that maintenance and repair workers are often their own…
Tony Ferraro | January 13, 2014 | Safety Products | Floor Marking, Floor Tape, Labeling, Safety, Tool Organization
When re-organizing or changing up your work floor or operations setup, you can have a potentially massive task on your hands. The problem with “potentially massive” projects is that they tend to easily become overwhelming, leading many to one of two undesirable outcomes: A) You take shortcuts and end up with a sort of half-result that isn’t as great as you had wanted, or B) you just…
Tony Ferraro | December 30, 2013 | 5S | 5S, Facility Efficiency, Floor Marking, Labeling, Organized Workplace, Rack Labeling, Safety Signs, Tool Organization
There are many benefits associated with the implementation of 5S. Below, we have created a list of the top ten benefits which may result in higher ROI’s (Return on Investment) when 5S is implemented properly. Creates Consistency: When 5S is implemented, consistency is created throughout the workplace. Processes, procedures, tools used, and even levels of cleanliness will be consistent which will lead to a reduction in costs…
Tony Ferraro | November 4, 2013 | 5S | 5S, 6S, Facility Efficiency, Tool Organization
Label printers come in all shapes and sizes; however, they are not all created equal. The capabilities of label printers vary widely depending upon their intended usage. For instance, some label printers are very small and compact and feature a typing pad right on the actual labeler. These types of label printers offer the convenience of speed by printing text labels quickly right from the palm of…
Tony Ferraro | June 18, 2013 | Safety Products | Equipment Labeling, Facility Marking, Floor Marking, Forklift Safety, Industrial Label Printers, Label Makers, Labeling, Rack Labeling, Safety, Safety Signs, Tool Organization
Continuous improvement is the task of frequently seeking out ways to improve processes, products, or services. However, it is important to remember that persistence and perseverance are vital when it comes to the ongoing and ever-changing task of continuous improvement. For instance, when cell phones first came out they were oversized, bulky, offered less than desirable service, and neglected any sense of style. However, through continuous improvement…
Mike Wilson | April 17, 2013 | Safety Solutions | 5S, Continuous Improvement, Kaizen, Kanban, Lean Manufacturing, Organized Workplace, Six Sigma, Tool Organization
Foam inserts, as the name suggests, are used for packaging and filling out packages. There is a wide range of packaging foam available for this purpose. Today, one can purchase custom foam inserts in following formats: Polyethylene Closed cell polyethylene Polyether Polyurethane Neoprene Stratocell Foam inserts can also be made available in laminated finishes using suede, leather and other combinations along with a self adhesive backing layer.…
Mike Wilson | December 27, 2012 | Safety Products | Facility Efficiency, Lean Manufacturing, Tool Organization
As a concept, 5S is intended to produce the best results in any given work environment. This includes things like productivity and wasted time, the happiness and safety of employees, and of course the overall profitability of your business. The S’s themselves stand for sort, set in order, shine, standardize, and sustain. Unfortunately, 5S and other lean concepts are often implemented in an inefficient manner, which is…
Mike Wilson | November 15, 2012 | 5S | 5S, Facility Efficiency, Labeling, Lean Manufacturing, Organized Workplace, Tool Organization
Every workshop has an inventory where records of all tools purchased are recorded. A look through the inventory indicates that most of the small tools and implements are usually recorded missing, broken or damaged beyond repair. While these may seem like negligible losses an accumulation in a number of years results into huge amounts that may never be recovered. However, the good news is that these losses…
Mike Wilson | August 30, 2012 | Safety Products | 5S, Facility Efficiency, Lean Manufacturing, Organized Workplace, Tool Organization
Most efficient organizations employ the use of floor tape to safeguard the safety of all workers and visitors. There are immense dangers in the workplace and if any were to occur they would result to huge losses in compensation and human resource. To ensure that that this does not happen and to improve upon the general efficiency in the workplace many organizations opt to use warning tapes.…
Mike Wilson | August 29, 2012 | Floor Marking | Fire Safety, Floor Marking, Floor Tape, Tool Organization, Workplace Safety
On the Lean Journey blog, author Tim McMahon talks about how he found a great video by woodworker and continual improvement maven, Paul Akers’s most recent addition to helping us to increase our efficiency and decrease our downtime with his newest video, in which he organizes a ‘junk drawer,” and shows how easy adding some tool foam and dividing the tools inside into their own compartments really…
Mike Wilson | August 23, 2012 | Lean | Continuous Improvement, Organized Workplace, Tool Organization
