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Based on the Japanese words Seiri, Seiton, Seiso, Seiketsu and Shitsuke, the 5S philosophy focuses on effective workplace organization and standardized work procedures. 5S simplifies your work environment, reduces waste and non-value activity while improving quality efficiency and safety.
Once fully implemented, the 5S process can increase morale, create positive impressions on customers, and increase efficiency and organization. Not only will employees feel better about where they work, but the continuous improvement of 5S leads to less waste, better quality and faster lead times.
Introduction
After suggesting 5S as an initial step in business transformation, I often get questions such as, "Why should we care about 5S?" or "Well, that's nice, but why take the time to ask everyone to do 5S and then actually audit each other for compliance to make it part of our culture?" and "What, exactly, is the PAYOFF for doing this?"
This white paper will explain 5S, how it is implemented and how it pays off in easy-to-follow terms. We'll also cover what you can expect your learning curve to be and the importance of celebrating success.
5S as an integral part of Six Sigma
What is 5S?
The 5S framework was originally developed by just-in-time expert Hiroyuki Hirano. According to Hirano, without the organization and discipline provided by successfully implementing the 5Ss, other tools and methods are likely to fail.
5S is the methodology based on five Japanese terms to create a workplace suited for visual control and lean production. Table 1.0 displays a concise description of each of the 5S's:
S1 Seiri Sort Separate needed items from unneeded ones and remove the latter.
S2 Seiton Simplify Neatly arrange items for use.
S3 Seiso Scrub Clean up the work area
S4 Seiketsu Standardize Sort, simplify and scrub daily.
S5 Shitsuke Sustain Always follow the first four S's
How is 5S Implemented?
While every company is different, generally if every employee contributes about 40 hours over the first year to help implement and make 5S a habit success will soon follow. This includes initial training and implementation, team meetings to work out details, ongoing improvement implementation, auditing, and time to stop and celebrate at key achievement points.
If 40 hours seems like a lot of effort, consider the next section below before passing final judgment.
5S as an integral part of Six Sigma
How Does 5S Pay Off?
Lack of organization creates waste that is not always visible in our processes. Take a look at Figure 1.0. In this photo you can see a rack containing the forms and flyers common in most HR departments. What is wrong in this picture?
5S not only streamlines manufacturing, but it's effective in service organizations, too. Six Sigma programs like those offered through Villanova University online can pay for themselves in the time and money you'll save hunting for necessary supplies, tools, files and equipment.
How many people do you suppose need to come here several times a year to retrieve one or more of these documents? Everyone? In your company, what are the chances you will end up asking someone nearby for help to find what you need, only to discover it was already there? Likely, more often than we would care to admit! Now we have tied up two people for up to 15 minutes or the employee may even have to come back later.
Let us assume 600 employees need to go to this rack from time to time, and say on average, everyone does this about three times a year. That is 1,800 visits. If each person takes 15 minutes to look through the rack, it comes to 450 hours of search time, when, if 5S'd it could easily be a minute or less per visit - or 1,800 minutes a year, or just 30 hours. That is a possible productivity increase of about 93% on this task alone. Now, let us assume there are 600 different locations in the company that deal with this kind of problem every day... and, well... you do the math. This is a perfect example of how the 5S approach can save a company many lost hours of productivity. Using just this example, hidden waste is reduced by more than 400 hours a year!
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