Implementing 5S

5S is a method developed to get rid of all different types of waste, waste of space, time, production, distance, defects and inventory. It consists of 5 steps to take, to improve the efficiency and value of the equipments used in production or in your office. The 5S's are:
  1. Sort, get rid of everything that doesn't belong in the working space. Including dirt. Red Tag everything that you feel doesn't belong. Put it in the Red Tag area until you have decided what to do with it. Keep a Red Tag log of anything that don't belong.
  2. Set in order, a place for everything and everything on its place. You should be able to see if anything is missing within 5 seconds. Take before and after pictures to encourage the new situation.
  3. Shine, bring back the equipment and tools to an "as new condition" state, stop the dirt at the source, prevent things to get dirty, establish a daily cleaning routine, inspect while you clean. Make sure that the cleaning tools are readily available and has their designated place.
  4. Standardize, put together a set of standards, how things should be and look like at the end of the shift. Standardize the working methods. Put the standards where everyone can see them. Visualize them on a board at the working place. Challenge the standards to continuously improve on them.
  5. Sustain, take the ownership of your space, don't wait for the supervisor to point out anything for you. Make it a habit to think efficiency and establish a routine to catch improvement ideas and make them come through. Also consider to implement the Kaizen model to catch the improvement ideas in a very structured way.
Now, this all sounds good and clear. It is the theory behind the 5S, now comes the tricky part; How do we implement this?

 There are six critical elements that needs to be in place for a successful implementation of any change in an organization. If one of them is missing there will be a failure. So before implementing the 5S, make sure you have all six of them committed from the management, only then the implementation will be successful. The six elements are the following and the consequence if it's missing:
  1. Vision - Confusion
  2. Urgency - Apathy
  3. Capabilities - Anxiety
  4. Incentives - Resistance
  5. Resources - Frustration
  6. Action Plan - False start
So, if you don't have a vision in place there will be confusion etc.
Work these six elements with your team before the kick-off and make sure that all team members are on the same page. Get the management to approve and go ahead. 

 I will handle each of the 5 S's more in deep in other posts, I will also address the six elements for a successful change.

 Please let me know what you think. Have you had any experience in implementing the 5S? Any lessons learned you want to share or any success stories. Any questions or remarks? Use the comment section below.



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