Useful
insights and tips for continuous improvement of your business processes
Useful
insights and tips
for continuous
improvement of your business processes
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5S Housekeeping to organize the workplace |
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Most Lean initiatives start out with a five S program to get things cleaned up and organized as one of the first steps toward Kaizen process improvement.
| 5S Housekeeping - to organize the workplace | |
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Sort
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Start by sorting the useful from the unnecessary. The only things that should remain in a work area are the parts, tools, & instructions needed to do the job. |
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Set in order (Seiton) |
Everything has a place; everything is in its place. This is also a good time for your team to create a Visual Scoreboard, jidoka lights, floor paint, kanbans, and other visual controls described in our our free Lean & Kaizen PowerPoint presentation. |
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Sweep & Shine (Seiso) |
Do an initial spring cleaning. |
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Standardize (Seiketsu) |
In the Standardize phase of Lean 5 S, routine cleaning becomes a way of life. Preventative maintenance is routinely performed, perhaps with planning and scheduling and some responsibilities done by your central maintenance department, and as much routine maintenance as possible performed by the people that know that work center better than anyone else. |
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Sustain
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Shitsuke is when 5S becomes a routine way of life. Root causes are routinely identified and dealt with. The Systems2win Excel templates known as the 5S Worksheet and the Standard Work Audit are very familiar to everyone - both supervisors and the workers that have come to appreciate the benefits of 5S and Lean methods. |
5S housekeeping is a starting point for every successful Lean process improvement initiative.
Most Lean initiatives start out with 5S training as one of the earliest initiatives, and there is a flurry of enthusiastic cleaning and organizing. The real test, however, is how well the new ways "stick" over time. The success of your 5s program is often an excellent predictor of the probable success of your greater lean manufacturing initiative.
The Systems2win 5S Housekeeping Scorecard template is a very useful tool for supervisors to use on a consistent time cycle (perhaps weekly) to formally inspect and review the work areas they supervise.
The 5S Housekeeping Scorecard is especially useful when it is personalized for each work area.
The really successful Lean companies, however, know that when top management stops paying attention - everyone else soon follows. So, (perhaps using the Quality Data Scorecard template as a starting point), they develop a simple scorecard for top management to "supervise the supervisors" - keeping track of such things as:
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November 2005 issue