Product Status Identification

The 5 Simple Steps to 5S Red Tagging

The five simple steps to 5S red tagging are:

• Identify unnecessary, unrequired or misplaced items


• Complete a 5S red tag and attach to the item in question


• Move the item to the red tag holding area


• Any red tagged items must then be logged


• After a predetermined amount of time, items should be disposed of appropriately

Although 5S red tagging is common sense, it is not a once in a blue moon thing; it requires constant attention and the full support of your workforce. If implemented correctly, people will soon notice the benefits of having a 5S red tagging programme in place and fully embrace your company’s processes and policies associated with it.

Frequently Asked Questions

What Is a Red Tag System?

In a nutshell, red tagging is a simple but effective means of highlighting items that are earmarked for moving from a work area to a holding area.

As part of the lean manufacturing methodology, the 5S system entails the implementation of visual management approaches to ensure the optimisation of time and resources in the workplace. The five Ss stand for sort, set in order, shine, standardise and sustain. Observation, analysis, collaboration, and identifying and removing waste are embedded in the 5S principles.

Red tags form part of the ‘sort’ and ‘set in order’ organisation strategies of this management approach. A red tag in 5S therefore helps to identify objects and processes of which the use or need is unclear. It helps with pinpointing and marking defective products.

5S sorting assists your company to answer questions such as:

• What is this?


• Should it be kept, stored, or disposed of?


• If the item is necessary, how many should be kept on hand?

Seton’s 5S red tags were designed to address these questions. Explore our red tags and red tag station options to implement efficient warehouse sorting.

How Does Red Tagging Work?

Often referred to as a ‘red tag area’, this separate location is a storage space set aside for red-tagged objects. This location is important for the proper implementation of 5S sorting.

Effective company policies would prescribe that those items remain in this red tag area for up to two months. This period affords you enough time to properly evaluate the red-tagged items and decide whether they:

• Are necessary and should be moved back to the main stocking or warehousing areas. If these items are earmarked as necessary, then replace the red tags with inventory tags to avoid confusion. Seton stocks a range of comprehensive stock identity tags for this purpose.


• Can be removed and recycled.


• Should be given to other departments in the company that can use them.

Red tagging simplifies and streamlines stock management processes. When a person finds an item that they either don’t know what it is, no longer have a use for it or it is broken, then they tag it. This acts as a signal to everyone else in the area that the item will be moved to a local holding area at some point in the future.

During the sorting process of 5S these tagged items are then removed to a holding area which should be easily identifiable through the use of either wall or floor signs, or even both.

So why tag an item, you might ask yourself. The answer is quite simple, to ensure that items are not inadvertently removed from your work area.

What is a Red Tag Holding Area?

This is a designated place, away from work and production areas, to which tagged items are moved. The holding area should always be kept neat and tidy so that items can be easily identified and their status monitored.

Furthermore, these holding areas should be easily identifiable and segregated from production areas. One such way of doing this is through the use of Red Tag Area Kits that are supplied with either tape, chain.

A word of caution however; if not properly monitored, a red tag holding area could very quickly become a dumping ground. Therefore it is advisable that someone is made responsible for checking and maintaining the holding area and ensuring that tags and item logs are completed correctly.