Introduction to 5S

5S is usually the first step in implementing a lean manufacturing program. So what is 5S?

The acronym "5S" comes from the five Japanese words, seiri, seiton, seiso, seiketsu, and shitsuke. Roughly translated to English, and picking English words that start with the letter "S", these Japanese words mean: Sort, Systematize, Shine, Standardise and Sustain. "5S" is an approach for cleaning up, getting organized and maintaining what has been accomplished. The result is that you’ll have a cleaner, more organized, safer, and more efficient workplace.

We’ll be taking a look at each of the Five S’s, starting with the last one, shitsuke or "sustain". If your 5S program has not been designed to be sustainable from the beginning, you are wasting your time and money going through the first four steps.

A successful implementation of 5S requires three things: commitment, upper management support and performance measurement.

Commitment: A literal translation of the word "shitsuke" would be commitment. Tomo Sugiyama writes in his "The Improvement Book", "’shitsuke’ is a typical teaching and attitude towards any undertaking to inspire pride and adherence to the standards established."

Commitment means that you must be committed to doing all Five S’s, not just three or four of them. You must also be willing to commit the resources necessary to accomplish all Five S’s—which means a commitment of both time and money. In some cases 5S can be implemented with very little expense, in other cases there may be a need for capital improvements to the work areas or facility. You must also be committed to carrying through on the complete Five S program. Getting a 5S program started, and then walking away from it, will not work. Workers will just slide back into the old way of doing things.

Upper Management Support: Without upper management support, the ability to get the funds and time to implement 5S will be limited. Don’t try to implement 5S on a large scale without full senior management support. A possible approach may be to demonstrate to senior management the significant benefits resulting from 5S by starting small. This can be accomplished by implementing 5S and lean manufacturing on a small scale in one facility or for one product line. After the ROI has been demonstrated on a small scale, 5S can be expanded into other areas.

Performance Measurement: Having measurable performance standards allows you to both track the success of your 5S program, and detect problems so they can be fixed before they become serious. If you are not tracking performance, old habits may slowly return and the benefits of 5S will slip away without anyone noticing.

In addition, measurement of performance gives you the hard numbers you’ll need to take to senior management to get their support for an expansion of 5S in to other facilities and product lines.

Let's conclude today's article with a few words about 5S from Hiroyuki Hirano. He is the author of 5S: Five Pillars of the Visual Workplace:

"A company that cannot successfully implement the 5 Ss cannot expect to effectively integrate JIT, re-engineering, or any other large-scale change. Good workplaces develop beginning with the 5S's. Bad workplaces fall apart beginning with the 5 Ss."