Storage Room 5S Sadie Roth Akron Children’s Hospital

Background During a Lean Six Sigma project in the Rehab Department, we discovered that therapists were lugging an exercise bike and other equipment up three floors to do treatment with special patients who were not permitted to leave their floor. When we asked why they didn’t keep a bike up on the floor, the floor said there was no storage space for the bike. Investigation showed there was actually a very large storage closet on the floor…

Pre-5S Picture 1 but it was being used for other things…

Pre-5S Picture 2 like a Christmas tree, Foosball table, office supplies,…

Pre-5S Picture 3 donated toys, and broken chairs. We convinced the floor to work with us on a 5S of their storage space.

Post-5S Picture 1 We sorted…and sorted…and sorted. We gave each remaining item a home and utilized visual management to communicate what went where. We repurposed old shelves and had custom shelves with a lip on the top shelf built to hold bikes in place.

Post-5S Picture 2 We had peg-board installed to use as much free space as possible.

Post-5S Picture 3 We marked off “parking lots” on the floor.

Post-5S Picture 4 We found a new storage location for the Christmas tree.

Post-5S Picture 5 We even found space for the exercise bike and other Rehab equipment. The floor was thrilled to have a clean, organized storage room, and rehab was able to reduce the time they spent moving equipment.