So I've spent the morning reading 4 years of posts on this subject. I've been involved in just about every quality program since the early 70's and find them all to be relatively the same. In 1974 the USAF decided to eliminate the clutter in personal lockers by ordering the removal of all government issued equipment (that's bench stock for those not familiar with military jargon).
Lockers were opened, material was removed and thrown away and life went on. The estimated long term costs at the base I was stationed at totaled near a million dollars in lost productivity waiting for material to be delivered, lost aircraft launch due to material waiting to be delivered and the estimation of thousands of dollars of material (not waiting to be delivered) discarded.
I recently watched with horror as management here implemented 6S and thousands of dollars worth of (hidden) stock was arbitrarily tossed in the trash. If you are implementing 6S or 5S please consult with the "owners" of that material and evaluate why they have it in the first place before you decimate the one thing that keeps it all working.
That guy on the line that could always come up with a spare missing widget or piece of hardware could be the reason why you were as successful as you had been. Much better to leave it in place and catagorize it
properly than to discard it carelessly. Even if it takes more time.
Either way thanks for a very interesting morning to all that have contributed here.
