What's to understand? 5S is just housekeeping...Right?

Let's get it right about 5S.....

First, it is best to define what 5S is and how it may be different from what you have come to believe. 5S has developed a bad reputation over the last couple of decades as it is often grossly misrepresented by consultants and typically ends up in just ad-hoc housekeeping. 5S is far from housekeeping. 5S is the pinnacle of business culture transformation whereby all employees understand and actively pursue continuous improvement opportunities in order to optimise and organise their work areas to ensure it gives people the greatest chance of reducing variation within a process and therefore creating a prime state for performance. With that in mind here are just some of the ways 5S can support your balance sheet.

5S and Employee engagement

There comes a point in every 5S kick-off workshop when it clicks for the people in the team. When the theory and the practical come together and the cultural shift takes its first grasp. Ideas with start to flourish, problems start being addressed and discussions begin around how we develop and improve what we do today. This is the key turning point for many businesses embarking on their 5S journey. Depending on how mature the business is in terms of utilising Lean principles there will be plenty of opportunities and likely not enough time to fit them in. Maintain a focus on the process, and empower your colleagues and your business will likely be unrecognisable in the following months. 

Often there are invisible obstacles that block the natural flow of production in a process. The obstacles are not typically physical, but tasks or inefficiencies that have been built into the process over time and never addressed. 5S gives colleagues a chance to critically question the status quo and the process constraints. The platform sets a solid foundation and kick-starts the development of a Continuous Improvement mindset. 

Reduced equipment downtime

By maintaining the work area in a like new and ready state, the unusual and out-of-place become obvious. This is as much for general workplace upkeep as it is for equipment By designing an environment where equipment status is highly visible routine maintenance is less time-consuming and problems can be addressed quicker and with less cost attributed. This leads to less equipment downtime and a more stable and reliable process that is in control.

Process time savings and better people utilisation

Process times reduce naturally, by removing obstacles whether physical or process, efficiency increases creating shorter lead times, increased capacity and better productivity. A simple example of removing an obstacle could be removing WIP from circulation that is on hold by creating a quarantine area for it to wait in until the problem has been resolved. This improves organisation and reduces non-value-added tasks such as the time needed to locate and identify work in progress. Reducing waste that exists in the process allows colleagues to concentrate on the critical parts of the process that truly add value from a customer perspective and therefore a business perspective. These small incremental improvements soon set a solid foundation for greater gains further down the line. 

Re-purpose and sell what you don’t need!

Often an overlooked and under-appreciated part of 5S workshops. When there are inevitably articles left in the red tag area after areas have reclaimed and rehomed critical equipment while the rubbish has been recycled or disposed of. There is an opportunity to either ask colleagues if they are interested in taking any of the articles home or even selling the items and using the funding on a celebration of the changes. While it is unlikely to change your business's fortune, small gestures can help develop a new business transformation culture.

Want to know more? Read more about the history of 5S

Are you are looking to start your 5S journey? If not why not? Let us know in the comments below or contact us here.