5S Lean Process for Sustainable Office Space

Vision 2020 paints a clear picture of the Caterpillar we want to be tomorrow — a company that sets the “gold standard” for performance in safety, quality and velocity. The Caterpillar Production System is helping us achieve these goals by enabling Team Caterpillar to produce the highest quality products as efficiently and safely as possible.

Within Caterpillar, leaders and business units in many areas of the globe have implemented 5S - a method for workplace organization and effectiveness based on lean principles -  in their office spaces during the past year and have seen value in the results. In the Peoria, Illinois area buildings alone, we've:

Removed 385,000 pounds of waste paper,
• Collected 3457 boxes of usable excess supplies,
• Recovered 4977 square feet of floor space,
• Implemented 1084 safety and ergonomic improvements, and
• Saved about $1.3 M since we began in June of 2012.

These savings are small compared to all that can be gained when applying "lean" to office processes. Beau Keyte and Drew Locher, authors of "The Complete Lean Enterprise," tell us that 90 percent of waste eliminating opportunities in even manufacturing firms is found outside of direct manufacturing operations, away from the plant floor. Other authors of lean in the office put that number at 75%

Click here to learn more about sustainable efforts of Caterpillar.