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5S
Contents
- 5S Overview
- The S's
- The Power of 5S - an
example
5S Overview
5S is the single most critical component
of Lean Manufacturing. If you do nothing else for Lean, do
5S. All the lean disciplines flow from 5S, and without a solid 5S
foundation, all the lean activities you implement will slowly wither
away.
5S refers to 5 Japanese words that begin
with the "S" sound. The English equivalents are "Sort", "Set in
order", "Shine", "Standardize", and "Sustain".
5S always starts with cleaning up and
painting lines on the floor, and many people therefore think that 5S is
"cleaning up", but it is much much more. The most important part
of 5S is the "Standardization" that allows for all future
improvements.
The S's
1. Sort Through and Sort Out
The first step to 5S is to get rid of
things that should not be present in the work area. If you're
keeping things around because you think they may someday be useful,
think again. In a well 5S'd world, only those items which are
used on a regular basis should be nearby.
Things which are used less often should
be stored far away, while things that are used frequently should be
very close. For example, the screw driver you use every 5 minutes
should be stored on a hook on your belt, while the special calibration
fixture which you use once a year should be labeled and stored in a
distant warehouse.
Rule of Thumb
If you haven't used it for 30
days, and you don't know when you will use it again, throw it away!
But wait! What if you find out next week
you needed the thing you just threw away? This is going to happen:
You'll do a major 5S, and throw away a ton of old stuff, and then
someone (usually the boss) will irately demand to know why you threw
away the item he's signing a purchase requisition for. The short
answer is that it's worth it to buy back the 5% of what you threw away
to clear out the 95% you don't need. Also, we use a "Red Tag" system
to give everybody a chance to see and claim what we feel we don't need.
Don't let the packrats rule! "When in
doubt, throw it out!"
2. Set In Order
"A Place for everything, and everything
in its place."
Once you've gotten rid of stuff you
don't need, you need to put the stuff you want where you want it.
Don't get hung up finding the "perfect" place; the most important thing
is to pick a specific place and then use it. (You will almost
certainly will find a new, better place sometime in the future.)
As you select places for items in the
workplace, keep in mind the rules about frequently used items being
close, and infrequently used items being far away.
3. Shine (Inspect Through
Cleaning)
Many people mistake 5S for a
"housekeeping" program. A well 5S'd plant is clean, but not
simply because it's nicer to work in a clean environment. We
clean to inspect our equipment. Things like oil leaks, worn
bearings, loose fasteners, etc are much easier to find when the
equipment is regularly cleaned.
As someone wipes down a machine, their eye is
forced to look at the machine. They therefore have a much better
chance of finding something that has just gone wrong.
4. Standardize
This is the heart of 5S. A
process which is not performed the same way every time is out of
control, and more importantly, is not improvable. Standardization
requires that things be labeled, work instructions be posted, and that
associates working in an area follow all follow the same standard
method.
Its perfectly acceptable to change a
process, but the newly changed process has to become the new standard.
5. Sustain
The hardest of the S's. Sustain
requires constant vigilance. The best way to sustain 5S is to
make it a regular part of your jobs. Another excellent way is to
create a metric for 5S. This metric
needs to be publicly posted for all to see.
The Power of 5S
An
example of why 5S is so powerful
I do not know where this picture was taken.
(I received it from a trainer several years ago.) This is an
excellent example of the power of 5S. The lines and signs in
this picture probably took someone about an hour to create and post.
Click on this photo for a larger version.
.jpg)
What do you know about this facility? What
safety concerns do you see? What production problems are they
facing?
Here is what I and others have seen in this photo.
If the lines and signs were not present, we would not have known any of
this:
- Cartons should have been ordered (below minimum
reorder point)
- Safety concern with power cord where cartons
will be dropped
- Safety concern with the glass(?) window.
Will it be damaged by the pallets and cartons?
- Is there a pallet jack missing? (see the empty
rectangle in front of the pallets.)
- Sufficient quantity of pallets are on hand, but
they may fall below minimum soon.
- Safety concern with the 220V outlet high up on
the wall. Will it be damaged by the cartons?
- Safety concern with the height of the pallets.
Will it block the sight of someone coming through the doorway?
Notice the power of 5S! We know nothing about
this factory. We don't know what they make, or have any knowledge of
any of their problems. But we can ask good questions and may be able
to help improve their safety and performance. All this is due
to someone spending an hour on 5S! Wow!
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J.
R. Casey Bralla
