Lean 55: Standardize
The lean 5S system contains 5 steps to achieving a more organized, controlled and efficient manufacturing plant. These steps are Sort, Set-in-Order, Shine, Standardize and Sustain. And in this article, I discuss the fourth step in the 5S process, and that is the Standardize step.
Be a Thief or a Goose!
In the Standardize step of the 5S methodology you want to either be a skilled thief or be the lead goose in a flying V-formation. This forth step, is all about plant-wide consistency. While a continuous improvement journey requires lots of team-based creativity, it also requires some consistency too. You don’t want your plant to look like a mishmash of different visual controls and lean standards. So, in the standardize step, you are going to create new standards or look to comply to the already existing standards in your plant.
If your plant has already begun its lean journey and it has a few previously completed 5S kaizens, then steal shamelessly from those other teams that are further along the 5S path. I led many 5S kaizen events and after a little classroom training, I would take the kaizen teams on a tour around the production areas that have already undergone 5S activities. During these tours, I would point out the metric boards, worktables, tool boards, color-codes and visual controls in each area.
I would instruct my kaizen team to copy what these other teams have already created. Maybe it’s the method of tool control or the layout of their metric graphs or the color-code system that they are using for different process controls. Additionally, I would share any written standards with the kaizen team. You see, I never wanted a kaizen team to reinvent something that was already established.
But what if your team represents the first 5S kaizen event in your plant? In other words, what if your event represents the lead goose in your plant? Well, if that is the case, then you have some extra work to do during this forth step of the 5S process. You will need to establish the 5S standards for your plant. And while standards probably won’t all get established during the event itself, some follow-up work will be needed.
One of the goals of the first 5S kaizen team is to work in a continuous improvement mode and to create the new 5S standards for your plant. Then you want to implement the new standards within the assigned production area and lastly, document them for plantwide use. This process may take some time and it requires many conversations with various resources, but your project will be the 5S model in your plant. Other kaizen teams will tour this production area and steal shamelessly.
The 5S standards that you and your kaizen team may need to create includes things like a metric board design, the workstation layout, 5S audits and the color-coding of different process controls, such as shadow locations, kanban squares, workflow visuals and safety devices.
In summary, progressing through the lean 5S methodology includes this forth step, Standardize. The first three steps were all about rolling up your sleeves and getting organized. And here in the standardize phase, it’s all about creating and maintaining plantwide consistency. When it comes to plantwide standards, you are either the lead goose and you will be creating the standards that other teams will follow, or you will be a skilled thief who shamelessly steals from the previous teams.
When you standardize the 5S efforts in your plant, you create a tidal wave of lean momentum!
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