Sort is to categorize all materials and remove what is unnecessary.

Figure 1 – The 5S Categories Begin with SORT

The concept of sorting is simple. You simply remove all materials that are more than what is classified as the strategic amount for your job site. The good thing is that you get to decide what a strategic amount means to you. The unfortunate thing is that if you pad that number, you will realize what you plan for. Plan for excess inventory and you will build waste everywhere–not just in inventory.

There are many types of materials, tools, and equipment, and they vary by job site. We will refer to these job assets as materials. When you read materials–think of it as tools, or equipment, or any asset or consumable that the job requires. We use the word materials to mean any category you can think of, including labor. Below, they are represented as shapes.

Figure 2 – All things needed are represented as shapes

You take all your materials and group them into categories. This does not have to be done physically, but you should know the quantity of what is on site. Once you have them all sorted, such as all half inch couplings in one category, all half inch washers in another, or all blue pens together, or all black markers together. Whatever your materials are, sort them into categories. The result is that you now know the quantities by category of material that is on site. You can now ask two questions; do these materials need to be where they are currently being stored? and what should the usage be by category?

Do we need them to do our work today, this week, in two weeks, once a month, once a quarter, or once a year? We must remove any materials we do not need. We may have them because we think we might need them, but this is unnecessary and wasteful. We must handle them repeatedly as conditions and demands change throughout our company or the project life cycle. We must have a better plan. Asking the right questions - about the materials we need - helps us clarify what we need and when we need them.

In traditional construction, it is considered a good thing to have the materials nearby for the project. The materials could be stored in trailers. In a Lean construction project, this same set up represents a waste of excessive inventory and a waste of transportation. The excess inventory must be managed and controlled. We want enough material to do our work for the next week or two only. Ideally, most construction projects operate at a weekly pace. How much material do we need for our respective trade?

Figure 3 – Excess materials, tools, and equipment are removed

Once I have established what I need, I will locate and order these materials accordingly. The things I use all the time will be nearby. The stuff I use once every three months will not. I may even send this material back to the supplier and have them re-stock it.

We have a compulsive urge to want all our materials on site from the start of the project to the finish. Our customers have caught us unprepared too many times when they have asked us to do work that we do not have the materials, information, or tools to get started. Our experience has shown us that having everything on site, waiting for us, makes us more efficient and better prepared to deal with these spur-of-the-moment demands from our customer. What if there was a better way?

Lean has taught us having all materials on site is not as efficient as we once believed. We spend an incalculable amount of time looking for and managing these materials when we dump them all on the project site. Implementing a 5S System reduces unnecessary material handling and improves how we manage materials on the site. An early and detailed production plan ensures our ability to deliver on our installation promises to the customer. If we are on a Lean project we should ask, how much material do we need each week to meet the demands of the production schedule? Have we figured out a weekly deliverable plan of installed work? What materials do we always need available to handle that production rate of installed work?

Sort is to categorize all materials and remove what is unnecessary. Unnecessary is anything more than is required to complete the work at hand. We must figure out what a strategic amount of inventory means for us. For example, with the work we are doing we need a week or two of inventory. Everything above that–identified in red–is more than the required strategic amount of inventory. How much material do you need nearby to do a week or two’s worth of installation?