5S Lean Orderliness and Visuality

Kaizen 5S

5S refers to the five disciplines coming from the Japanese principles of seiri, seiton, seison, seiketsu, and shitsuke—or commonly referred to as sort, set in place, shine, standardise and sustain and in that order of approach. 

The words describe the principles of maintaining an efficient and effective workplace, equally applied in the factory, office, retailer, cafe, construction site or bank.

The 5S approach is promoted as a set of strategies, systems and techniques that provide a standard approach to housekeeping, visual management and work flow.

Although there are different western versions of the Japanese words within the context of Lean Manufacturing, the 5S principles and practices are widely refered to as the “5 Pillars of visual management” for successful lean implementation. Five S in practice are fundamental also to quick changeover (SMED), total productive maintenance (TPM) and the elimination of the 8 wastes of Lean thinking.

It is also regarded as a basic necessity for “Kaizen events” and often is the starting point for lean implementation and kaizen events.

Five S supports and assists a sustainable lean strategy and implementation program and usually delivers quick wins, higher productivity, improving quality and efficiency.

When you implement 5S correctly, you will benefit from smooth-running business operations, but also will motivate employees and have them engaged and eager to continue on with the lean change process.

So how can you implement 5S effectively?

From experience, we generally use the following steps:

Like all of the lean approaches we have the "current state" (in 5S the Before change) and the "future state" (In 5S after change)

5S "Before"

1. Choose a section to first apply 5S.

2. Conduct 5S training (Use the learning by doing model - Train to Sort and go and Sort) 

3. Treat sort as the organisation of work space and as a ‘waste reduction’ activity. 

4. Set everything in order. focus on arranging, labelling, fixing everything to be able to find anything in 30 seconds.

5. Shine or cleanliness is crucial for the acceptance of 5S. What is the agreed cleaning standard? What do you need to make it happen? and be maintained?

6. Standardise the 3S's.

5S "After"

7. The 5S discipline must be sustained. Layered audits and visual management

Contact us for your 5S implementation program support and training requirements