Lean Tool: How to Implement the 5S System
5S stands for Sort, Set-in order, Shine, Standardize and Sustain. These are the steps we use to clean up and organize an area in the factory. The more organized an area is, the more efficient it is because the operators aren’t walking around looking for things. They only have exactly what they need at their work station, nothing more, nothing less, and it's organized in a way that is efficient. If your work area is messy, then put together a Kaizen team and start by sorting things out.
SORT: Get rid of everything that is not needed. All excess tools and supplies need to be removed. A good way to do this is to red tag all of the potentially unnecessary things. Red tags should be numbered and have two sections. The first section is a description of the item, and the other section should ask three questions: 1) Is the item needed? 2) Is the item needed there? 3) Is the item needed in that quantity? The tag should be a two part tag. One part gets taped on the item and the other gets brought to the kaizen room for discussion. First, the team tags everything that they are not sure about, then they discuss each tag. If they don’t need an item at their machine, but the item is not trash, then create a “Red Tag” area. A red tag area is a roped off space where all the unneeded items go until a future date when a long-term disposition can be made.
SET IN ORDER: After you have sorted-out all of the unneeded items, then you want to start to organize what you do need. Shadow boards are a great way to do this. Even your trash cans should get red squares or circles to identify their proper locations. This ties into the visual factory you see because anyone walking by can see if the team is missing an item or if it's in use. Drawers and cabinets are not a great way to store things. Everything should be out in the open to be seen. Home kitchens aren’t designed for efficiency, but restaurant kitchens are all open and nothing is in drawers or cabinets - and they’re much more efficient. You want your factory to be efficient like a restaurant kitchen.
SHINE: You'll next want to shine everything – basically get out the rags and cleaning solvent and get some elbow grease and clean everything well. Move pallets and small equipment and have the floor scrubbed.
STANDARDIZE: Then you want to develop standards. For example, come up with color-coded systems within the factory and determine a standard format for your KPI boards. These standards should be shared and enforced plant-wide. Also you’ll want to develop a 5S audit and an audit frequency. There are many good 5S audits online, so take a look at those to get an idea of what will work for your factory.
SUSTAIN: Lastly, you’ll want to make sure you have good systems in place to maintain all of the great work that your kaizen team did. What do the operators do with the 5S audit after they complete it? Who is responsible for taking action when something doesn’t comply to the 5S standards? What is managements' role in enforcement? Your company will want a 5S document, like a written policy, work instruction or workmanship standard. It is very easy for 5S efforts to slip away. Having a sustainability plan is the most important and most commonly overlooked step in the 5S process.
5S is the cornerstone of lean manufacturing. Factories that have implemented and sustained 5S operate more efficiently and this is an undebatable fact! Want to learn more continuous improvement tools? Checkout Tools for the Trenches!
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