5S – Beyond the Nitty Gritty

5S is no longer a new concept in many workspaces, yet many still struggle with the implementation.  Before I settle down into my 5S training sessions I like to first take the temperature of the class, “What do you know about 5S?” Sometimes people can rattle off the 5S’s: Sort, Set in Order, Shine, Standardize, & Sustain. Most often I get a general reduction to housekeeping activities like sorting and cleaning. This is as good an opportunity as any to highlight what the takeaway of the training should be. If you remember anything at all, the objective of 5S is not just housekeeping but to establish and then elevate the baseline to which work is performed. Its simplicity is culpable of its misrepresentation. 5S sounds a lot like housekeeping but its full benefits can only be reaped if you are critical of the process and not just going through the motions.

To simply move from a dirty to a clean workspace will yield improvements for certain, but 5S does not stop there. Being clean is conducive to work but how else can you alter the environment to facilitate this work? Housekeeping only addresses a subset of inefficiencies. After a baseline standard is established, you can raise the bar by supplementing 5S’s with 5Why’s. It’s important to recognize that there is no final state of 5S but to see it as an iterative process. If in the beginning it is too difficult to sustain, then root cause how you can simplify or streamline your approach. If at the end 5S compliance is high but there is little improvement, then root cause how you can adjust the system to service more stakeholders.

There are many tools to be used in 5S but the implementation is not universal. What works in one area may not always work in another. For instance, sometimes more organization doesn’t always mean better organization. Organization requires resources and manpower to maintain and in doing so excessively you will eventually reach a point of diminishing returns. This further emphasizes the importance of having a critical eye while iterating. To roll out a 5S program and have staff blindly follow instruction would be a lost opportunity. 5S may be short for Sort, Set in Order, Shine, Standardize, & Sustain but its definition should not overshadow its greater purpose.