A lot of companies struggle to compete in the market due to poor customer service, sales, and production efficiency. 5S system can grow your company and take it to the next level.
5S System is the methodology that originated in Japan. It was adopted by the automobile company Toyota when it was in crisis during world war II.
The Problem
If you are facing the following problems in your company and want to solve them read this article:-
- Low productivity of your employees
- Wastage of manhours, material, and other resources
- Low workers morale
- Lack of space to expand or to meet demand
- Low-Profit Margins
- Low worker safety
- High defects and rejections
- High production costs
- Unable to meet changing demand of customers
- Dissatisfied customers and suppliers
The Solution
5S System to grow your company
5S System is going to solve all the above-mentioned problems in your company.
5S is the 5 Steps process that makes your workplace a more organized, cost-effective, efficient, and happy environment. 5S is a process to achieve and sustain a clear, clean, safe, organized, and standardized workplace.
Here is the explanation of all the 5 steps in detail. You can try to implement these steps on your own.
Step 1: Sort
In this step, the target area is chosen and all the equipment, material, etc. are taken out. It is then segregated into two categories:
- Necessary
- UNnecessary
Once you separate everything into above mentioned two categories then remove the unnecessary items from the workplace. Unnecessary items are kept away with a red color tag called a red tag. A separate area is designated to keep the unnecessary items. If you think these unnecessary items may be useful in the future keep them away for further review. If required you can offer these items to other departments in case they might be useful to them.
Some questions to ask during this phase include:
- What is the purpose of this item?
- When was this item last used?
- How frequently is it used?
- Who uses it?
- Does it really need to be here?
These questions help determine the value of each item. A workspace might be better off without unnecessary items or items used infrequently. These things can get in the way or take up space.
Keep in mind the best people to assess the items in space are the people who work in that space. They are the ones who can answer the above questions.
When a group has determined that some items aren’t necessary, consider the following options:
- Give the items to a different department
- Recycle / throw away / sell the items
- Put items into storage
Step 2: Set in Order (Simplify)
Ask the following two questions during this step.
- What do I need?
- Where should it be?
And then organize and arrange what you need. Find a place for everything, and put everything in its place.
Determine locations for all items
- Frequency = easiest to get
- Locate near activity
Calculate quantities of each item
- Place items in the storage location
- Avoid table / countertops
- Consider ergonomic impacts
Label storage locations
Once the extra clutter is gone, it’s easier to see what’s what. Now workgroups can come up with their own strategies for sorting through the remaining items.
Questions to ask now during this step:
- Which people (or workstations) use which items?
- When are items used?
- Which items are used most frequently?
- Should items be grouped by type?
- Where would it be most logical to place items?
- Would some placements be more ergonomic for workers than others?
- Would some placements cut down on unnecessary motion?
- Are more storage containers necessary to keep things organized?
During this phase, everyone should determine what arrangements are most logical
Set in Order is the process of putting everything in a place that is easy to get to and easy to put away.
Everything should be clearly marked so that anyone could easily find its proper home.
Set in Order step utilizes several different strategies to accomplish its goals, including:
- Label & Sign Strategy
- Paint & Tape Strategy
- Tool Outline Strategy
Step 3: Shine
A clean and clutter-free area enables instant usability of the required material, document, or information. It consists of 3 sub steps
- Cleaning the work area. When you clean the work area you naturally inspect it too.
- When you inspect few problems might get detected which could not come to your notice otherwise
- And lastly, when you detect a problem you cannot stop yourself from correcting or solving that problem.
Hence, 5S brings the problem to your notice, and people are encouraged to solve those problems that get unattended for months or years in some cases.
Following the undermentioned tips during the Shine step:
1. Clean
- Sweep, mop, dust, clear garbage
- Fix facilities
2. Plan
- Create Shine schedules
- Assign Shine responsibilities
3. Sustain
- Inspect/enforce Shine accountabilities
- Error-proof cleaning and maintenance
Everyone thinks they know what housekeeping is, but it’s one of the easiest things to overlook, especially when work gets busy.
The Shine stage of 5S focuses on cleaning up the work area, which means sweeping, mopping, dusting, wiping down surfaces, putting tools and materials away, etc.
In addition to basic cleaning, Shine also involves performing regular maintenance on equipment and machinery.
Planning for maintenance ahead of time means businesses can catch problems and prevent breakdowns. That means less wasted time and no loss of profits related to work stoppages.
Shining the workplace might not sound exciting, but it’s important. And it shouldn’t just be up to the janitorial staff.
In 5S, everyone takes responsibility for cleaning up their workspace, ideally on a daily basis. Doing so makes people take ownership of the space, which in the long run means people will be more invested in their work and in the company.
Step 4: Standardize
If the previous 3S makes your environment better than before, Lay down Procédures for first 3S.
Create visual controls and policies to ensure consistent, standard behavior for item usage and storage.
Make Sort, Set in Order, and Shine, part of daily work:-
- Policies and training
- Visual control
- Checklists
- Layouts
Standardization should encourage:
- Simplicity
- Repeatability
- Lack of variation
- Accountability
Standardize creates a system of tasks and procedures (SOPs) that will ensure that the principles of 5S are performed on a daily basis.
Determine standard procedures and make them visible.
Designate standard colors, shapes, and symbols to be associated with standard procedures.
Documentation
- Allow your employees to participate in the development and documentation of such standards.
- They are a valuable but often overlooked source of information regarding their work.
Different color standards are followed in 5S for various types of areas.
Step 5: Sustain
It is easy to start something new but difficult to maintain. In order to maintain 5S in long run and reap its benefits, After documenting and standardizing now is time to bring it to everyone habit and make it part of regular jobs.
Conduct self-audit to ensure adherence to earlier 4S’s.
Train your staff members so that they can spread the concept with others in the company. Encourage them to train others as well.
For Sustaining – ingrain 5S into the culture through training and ongoing discipline.
5S is the foundation for stability, standardization, and continuous improvement in your organization.
Challenge for you and your team
How do you assess that you have a perfect 5S system in your company?
Ask the following question to yourself and your team.
Am I able to find something that I need within 30 seconds?
Yes, if you are able to find what you need in 30 seconds you have the perfect 5S system implemented.
Start calculating the cost of time being wasted in searching tools, material, documents, information, etc. by your staff and team members.
This seems minor cost but if you aggregate the sum of all the team members’ time being wasted you will be astonished. And not only this your customers are also getting annoyed dealing with your team members.
Few Ideas from the Perfect 5S Organisation
