Many companies in different types of industry apply methods such as Lean Manufacturing, Total Productive Maintenance (TPM), Six Sigma or Total Quality Management (TQM) to realise and maintain the high standards their customer demand. The 5S programme is the key to their success. The 5S method is a structured programme to implement workplace organisation and standardisation. It motivates people, improves safety (product safety as well as working conditions), efficiency and productivity.
The 5S method has been developed in Japan at Toyota. The programme is called 5S, since all steps start with an "S": Seiri, Seiton, Seiso, Seiketsu, Shitsuke. Also in English the program can be referred to as 5S:
Sorting deals with the contents of a workplace, and removes all items that are not needed there.
Setting in Order refers to "a place for everything, and everything in its place" to enable easy acces to needed items.
Shining deals with cleaning and inspecting to keep tools and machines in good condition.
Standardizing refers to having standards and rules that everyone accepts and recognises. Visual management is an important aspect to facilitate easy understanding of these standards.
Sustaining is the continuous process of improvement and further refinement of the standards and the communication with all employees.
5S facilitates liability management, since it is part of preventative measures that can be taken to prevent quality defects and containment measures:
Safety: both product safety as well as working area safety improve.
Efficiency: 5S supports a smooth production process in various ways. Searching for tools is eliminated, flow principles are applied, tools storage is done where they are needed most. Location indicators visualise how things have been organised, and non conformaties are seen at once. Usually, walking, searching and waiting time are reduced substantially.
Quality: Daily activities like inspection help to keep the production line in the right condition, thus preventing defects.
Employee motivation: increases leading to a higher level of attention, and a lower illness rate.
Many companies already apply 5S. People visiting these companies are always impressed, this includes your customer and insurance company!
