A Visual Management Mindset: Understanding the Real Meaning of 5S

5S is a technique that is designed to help you achieve a well-organized workplace through the use of visual controls and instilling a sense of order.

Whilst these goals are desirable and attainable, the fact of the matter is that a number of companies fall short of actually fully adhering to the Kaizen system and seem to fail to understand the real meaning of 5S.

Good housekeeping

The origin of the 5S technique is centered on 5 Japanese words that are closely associated with the things that constitute good housekeeping.

The 5S program is a system that encourages good housekeeping the workplace and specifically focuses on having visual order, organization, cleanliness and standardization.

The rewards for fully embracing the concept of 5S in your workplace environment is the potential to improve efficiency, quality of service, safety and profitability. The concept itself is very basic and is really little more than basic common sense in a number of circumstances, but without the 5S checklist to refer to, many businesses have some or all of these basic principles.

Benefits for every business

The fundamental point about a 5S program is that it has the ability to provide benefits for any type of business.

Whether your business operates from a factory or a retail store, there are many aspects of the program which can be adapted to your business model and adopted to provide a greater sense of order and efficiency as well as promoting better safety and other positive outcomes.

When you take the issue of safety in the workplace environment and look at the example of complying with OHSA standards for safety floor markings via the resource PDF Thomasnet.com, you can quickly visualize how the discipline of 5S can help you meet those requirements.

The 5Ss

Sort

This encourages you to identify and remove any clutter in the workplace that is either simply unnecessary or create a safety hazard. If you are carrying out an exercise to identify items that are either surplus to requirements or could be potentially dangerous, you could attach some removal tags to these items so that they are identified as requiring action.

Set

Your aim is to set in order, which means customizing the work area so that you can achieve the highest level of efficiency possible. This could mean organizing the work environment to keep important materials close by and introducing a system of visual organization which could enable you to be more streamlined and more efficient in what you do.

Standardize

In order to comply with this aspect of 5S, your aim should be to create a standardized and truly consistent workflow. One of the best ways of achieving this goal is to assign specific tasks and create schedules for every worker, so that they clearly know their responsibilities.

Shine

As it sounds in a housekeeping context, shine is all about keeping the work area clean and that not only means all of the surfaces but any equipment or tools as well. As part of your efforts to comply with this aspect of 5S you should also set out to identify and then eliminate any sources of contamination found.

Sustain

What this means in relation to the spirit and meaning of the program, is to make it your aim to ensure that 5S becomes a long-term goal rather than a short-term fix. To achieve this you will need to regularly carry out reviews and inspections and analyze results in regular team meetings.

Any new workers should also be trained and taught the significance and relevance of maintaining the 5S standards in all respects and at all times.

The cost of implementing 5S

If you take the decision to adopt the 5S standards within your business, there may be concerns about the cost of implementing the program.

There is no specific answer to this question as you could spend a lot of money putting things right or you could spend very little, as it is a system that involves a state of mind and discipline as well as physical improvements such as safety labeling and potential adjustments to the working environment.

The reality is that 5S is going to involve some expenditure in order to get the program up and running and this might be spending money on training as well as cleaning your facility and you may need to invest in a quality labeling system too.

The main thing to take on board about 5S, is that it is basically a visual management mindset that needs to be adopted, but it offers much more than that for your business.

Jennifer Rainer has worked in senior supervisory roles in warehousing. Her experience extends to the mining sector and she enjoys passing on her insights online.