With no equipment at all, a correctly organised station can lift overall speed by ~15–25%. Two things: bring everything into the reach zone and give every item a fixed home.
The 60cm reach-zone rule
- Primary zone (most-used): within ~40cm, picked without looking;
- Secondary zone: within ~60cm, reached by extending the arm;
- Beyond 60cm you must reach or walk — noticeably slower.
The five S
- Sort (Seiri)Remove everything not used daily; keep only high-frequency items.
- Set in order (Seiton)Fixed place for every item; shadow boards, labels, colour zones; tape gun on your dominant side.
- Shine (Seiso)End each shift with 5 minutes to clear scrap, restock and reset.
- Standardise (Seiketsu)Identical layout at every station so a newcomer never relearns.
- Sustain (Shitsuke)Weekly station audits, scored, kept up.
Fixed spots in a standard station
- Tape gun on the dominant side;
- Scissors on a string or in a fixed pot (the most-lost object);
- Fill in an open under-bench bin, not a bag to untie;
- Boxes leaning pre-folded at the bench edge in three sizes;
- Order list/screen propped at eye level, never flat to bend over.
If you pack on the kitchen table and clear it nightly, put the whole station in one crate that lifts out and away in 90 seconds — you’ll pack in more short bursts.
Equipment prices are indicative Australian retail bands in AUD for 2026. They vary by brand, retailer, promotion and over time, and exclude GST, freight and installation; the invoice at purchase prevails. “Seconds saved” are ranges from published warehouse-operations material — estimates, not guarantees. Time your own process with a stopwatch first. See Sources & method.
Overall shape is in U/L/straight layouts; measure first in how to time one order.