If you’ve been to a seminar on sustainable practices lately, you may have heard the popular concept that tunneling through cost barriers might provide better spaces for people. To my knowledge, the concept was popularized by Paul Hawkins, Amory Lovins, and L. Hunter Lovins in their book, Natural Capitalism, more than 10 years ago.
Graph from 'Natural Capitalism' by Paul Hawkins, Amory Lovins, and L. Hunter Lovins
So what does it mean? The simplest example that is often given is that of a residential house: you can buy better windows, more efficient insulation, and even take advantage of passive solar heating. With all of these improvements, you will eventually reach the point of diminishing returns when you are spending extra money to save energy on heating your home. The detour that now seems possible is that you can reach a point where you’ve so radically reduced the heating load that you can eliminate the furnace and its associated ductwork altogether.
More and more my conversations with clients are round the idea of optimizing the work space to increase efficiency and productivity for scientists while maintaining a safe environment. Why you might ask? In these economic times companies want to expand in place and make minor changes in space and process that could have benefits of increased employee satisfaction and quality, while using less resources, time, and effort.
How do we do this? We implement Lean Lab Principles. Lean lab principles are derived from lean manufacturing and the 5S workplace organization methodology. These Lean principles can aid a laboratory in increasing speed, efficiency, quality and safety. The physical layout will affect how people work.
Going through this collaborative process you can improve the performance of your lab by improving flow and eliminating waste.
1. Sort – to get rid of unnecessary equipment or store it.
2. Straighten (or “Set in Order”) – Organize work areas for maximum efficiency by organizing tools & equipment to promote optimum work flows through minimizing movement. 3. Shine – Everything is cleaned and functioning properly. 4. Standardize – Develop a routine for sorting, setting and shining.� 5. Sustain–create a culture that follows the steps on a daily basis.
