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Spring cleaning with 6S

  • Published
  • By Senior Airman Jocelyn A. Ford
  • 92nd Air Refueling Wing Public Affairs
FAIRCHILD AIR FORCE BASE, Wash. --  What is 6S? The term will become more familiar during the week of Feb. 2-6. In short, 6S has the purpose to instill basic lean principles, unearth unused assets and hardware, dispose of non-essentials, free up needed space and increase productivity. For a deeper explanation of what 6S is, let's identify the six S's:

Safety - Safety is listed first to remind everyone that safety should be kept in mind when applying the other five S's. Safety also covers the identifying and evaluating of potential hazards in work centers.
Sort - During this phase of the process, items are identified for disposition using red and/or serviceability tags. Items are marked for Defense Reutilization and Marketing Office, re-use within the wing, group, or squadron, or waste or trash removal. The catch phrase for this phase is "When in doubt move it out."
Straighten - This is the time to put the plan in action. Find a place for all the essentials in the workplace, and put it there. Organize. A place for everything and everything in its place!
Shine - Shine is exactly what it implies. Identify all the needed cleaning materials, gather them, and then get to it. Clean everything inside and out.
Standardize - Standardization is key when dealing with a work center. Guidelines must be set, maintained and monitored.
Sustain - Regular audits performed will sustain the outstanding program the work center has implemented.

Fairchild is implementing 6S and doing a base-wide clean up. The 6S week will focus on units affected by many of the TFI moves, offering units an opportunity to get rid of excess items prior to relocating their work centers. To further help with the process, securable 64-gallon shredder bins will be deployed to squadrons so all work centers can take part and clean their areas on Feb. 2. These bins are not for classified documents and everyone should ensure that all records management functions are followed prior to depositing documents into the bins. Then, Feb. 6 a truck will go from squadron to squadron and shred everything in the bins. Once it is shredded, a certificate of destruction will be handed to the wing.

Each work center should take this opportunity to take unused or old office furniture, office supplies, hazardous materials, or other items to the swap meet. The swap meet will be open to the 92nd Air Refueling Wing first, and then will open up to other tenant units on base before being sent to DRMO. Each group has assigned points of contact. For more information or to request a shredder bin for your unit please contact the wing Air Force Smart Operations 21 office by email at afso21@fairchild.af.mil or call them at 247-9418.