How Do I Teach Lean Manufacturing to Kids?
Teaching kids lean manufacturing tools early will prove to be a productive move on your part. Lean tools can be instrumental in developing organizational skills, daily productive habits and heightened safety awareness. Teaching your children these skills early has shown that children will excel in school and activities, their stress levels are reduced, and there is a greater appreciation for everything you provide for them. One of the best lean tools a child can learn is 5S. This lean tool teaches organization, critical thinking, problem solving and future projection skills.
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Instructions
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Create a visual. Take a before picture of the room in the current state and put it where the child can see it daily. Begin by sorting through clothes and toys not used or played with. Together agree to provide the items that are in good condition to a charity. Throw everything else away that is ruined or not needed. You are teaching 5S skills. The first step is called sort.
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Instruct your child that everything has a place. According to the United States Environmental Protection Agency, this method cleans up and organizes the workplace or, in your case, your child's room. Have your child take everything that she will keep and store it neatly in her room. Your child will be able to place her things in an organized manner in the room in drawers and closets so clothes cannot be seen. This is the second step in the 5S process called set in order.
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Wipe down the windows, vacuum the floors, and organize the closets. This step is the third step in the 5S process called shine. This step is one that will need to be repeated periodically. Inform your child that this step will need to be completed on a weekly or monthly basis so the room does not go back to the original state. Post a schedule for the shine step to be completed by your child.
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Standardize the room. Standardize is the fourth step of the 5S process. Agree this is how the room should look each and every day. Write a standardized process of chores your child will need to complete on a daily basis to keep the room clean the exact way the child sees it. The list will need to be posted in the child's room for daily viewing.
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Together come up with a way to sustain the room. Sustain is the fifth 5S process. Developing a daily habit such as the child making his bed when he gets out of bed in the morning or putting his dirty clothes in the hamper when he takes off her clothes. Forming these habits will help the child learn to sustain the room. Take an after picture and post it next to the before picture. This will help the child remember how to keep the room clean. Incorporating lean skills into everyday activities is the best way to teach your child lean manufacturing.
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- Photo Credit hotel room image by Olaru Radian-Alexandru from Fotolia.com
