Nn5s
2019-02-05 Tuesday
Applying 5S to Neela Nurseries
Plant Works as a Factory Effort, Making Best of Limited Resources
Intro
In a dream to create a micro nursery based on a hobby and love of plants, we face a reality of a limited team size and small, tight space to work. Can some of the philophy and guiding principles of the Japanese developed "5S" business practices be applied to this ambition and endeavor? First let's ask what are some of the activities and goals we want to achieve. Following this let's see if we need to pare back this list of goals and ambitions.
A couple of living goods which the founders of Neela Nurseries wish to produce and promote include mason bees and the west coast United States native tree named Pacific madrona. Neela Nurseries has interest in some other native plant species and some non-native ornamental plants. Let us focus at first here on the two living species of orchard mason bees and madrona trees. We'll describe the life cycles of these organisms, and the tools and materials needed to raise them to a useful point for others.
Specific Projects To Organize
Orchard mason bees
List of materials, tools, staging and storing spaces, development and care activities:
- wood blocks suitable for drilling of 5/8 inch holes 3 to 4 inches deep
- wood pieces for block housings
- wood or sheet aluminum panels for backs of outdoor block storage boxes
- mosquito netting or screen door mesh
- wood screws for habitats and ventilated block storage and protection boxes . . .
- stainless washers
- stiff copper or stainless wire for housing loops to hang by
- drill templates
- table saw
- hand drill
- drill bits
- Phillips screw driver
- wire cutter
- planar rasp
- sanding block
- pencils and pens for marking
- masking tape
- . . .
Pacific madrona trees
List of materials needed, tools, germination and growing spaces, development and care activities:
Looking carefully at these two living organisms and their care and development we can see these works are much like a farming. It's also clear there's a lot of detail in raising and in the case of bees providing portable habitats for the given species. Each of these efforts requires time, materials, and space to carry out the stages of care and work. Of these three items: time, materials, space, the cheapest of these by far is materials. Given simple, low-tech and often recycled materials both the North America native bee and west coast tree species can grow in good health and bring a nature-driven nature-provided value which can't be made artificially, and at the same time does not require fancy or high-tech steps to realize. The resources of time and space are much more expensive, respectively.
While speaking of expense and value of resources, it is difficult to put a numeric value on the resource of time. But it is possible to count the number of hours a given task or tasks require. It is also possible to measure space in some common and useful ways: in square feet, in linear feet of shelf space, in volumne. Likewise without assigning a number- or dollar value to time we can count how much time we have in a given week or month to apply to tasks. This gives us a number value by which to budget which activities we can accomplish, and at what scale and at what quality . . .
Starting 5S - Preparing The Workspace
Knowing what resources our work ambitions require, we can now look at what space and other needed resources we have to work with. In the first of our two projects the central point of our work with bees and their habitats is a work bench. The work bench will hold small hand tools on top, larger tools below and to one side or the other. Shelf space below and above the work bench holds all materials used in making, repairing and cleaning bee habitats.
At beginning of project organization in a new space, everything currently in the project space needs to be dispositioned. Non-project items can be dispositioned in one of the following ways:
Dispositioning list:
- move item to appropriate alternate project space
- give unneeded item away
- recycle or discard unneeded item
There is a strong tendency to keep non-project items which we deem otherwise useful. For this reason it is all important for us to vigorously pursue the answer to the question "is the given item needed in our current project?" If the item is not needed we disposition it in one of the ways in the "dispositioning list". Sometimes an unneeded item creates concern when it is too large to fit in the trash can. There is concern the trash hauler will charge a fee to take away the oversize item. This fee, even if it is several dollars is however totally acceptable, given that to keep the uneeded item means we give it some of our limited project space. Project space is much more expensive than a one-time or few-times hauling fee.
Items to be given away, to be donated we box up, and we arrange to take those boxes to their respective recipients: family members, friends and neighbors, thrift stores. We plan and dedicate time in our near term schedule to deliver items for donation from the project space. In this way the items do not take up space for more than a few days or week or two at the most.
The removal of unneeded items opens -- and needs to open -- sufficient space for project tools and materials. Sufficient space means there is enough open or empty space to move and work with tools and materials in a safe and unhindered way. Sufficient space also means that all tools and materials are visible and easy to reach, if at most difficult by a ladder to a higher shelf. Sufficient space also means there is generally no stacking of materials unless they are naturally stackable, and still clearly recognizable and countable when stacked. Sufficient space also means that the project work space is easy to sweep and clean after a work session.
Any items or project organization which interferes with clear working space and easy-to-clean work space we must modify and implement in an improved way to address that shortfall.
. . .
