For Lean fanatics, 5S is a way of life; it is the way of
bringing order and sense to the world around. 5S is a Lean system that is used
for organizing, cleaning, developing, and sustaining an organized and efficient
work environment, ultimately leading to productivity. It is the name given to a
workplace organization method that uses a list of 5 Japanese words – Seiri,
Seiton, Seiso, Seiketsu, and Shitsuke. To make it adaptable by organizations
worldwide, these 5 Japanese words have been replaced with English synonyms,
namely Sort, Set in order, Shine, Standardize, and Sustain. Therefore, 5S
represents the activities that you must undertake to create a clean working
environment by implementing these 5 important practices. Utilizing these 5
practices will help you organize your workspace for efficiency and
effectiveness by identifying and storing the items used, maintaining the items,
and sustaining the new order. After all, organization is one of the keys to an
effective workplace. Let us understand in detail these 5 basic actions that are
taught in professional 5S Training Program India.
Sort
This involves removing all the unnecessary items from the
working area that are not needed for the job at hand. These could include
anything from tools, equipment, and machinery, to documents and containers.
Therefore, sorting mans keeping only those items that are needed in your
workplace.
Set in order
Now that you have only the most required things with you,
you need to systematically arrange them one by one by providing a designated
place to each item. You could designate locations by hanging signs from above,
or labeling all the items, or marking lines on the floor. Whatever you do, you
must give every item a permanent place, which can be taken to be used, and then
returned to that particular place again when not in use.
Shine
You now have everything in place, with the unused items
removed. This means half the work is already done, and the workplace is now
clean and organized. But, this is not enough. You now need to ‘shine’ the
workplace, meaning that you must clean up the area to make it look
professional. Have your entire working area repaired, refurbished, fixed, and
even painted, if required. Remember that working in a clean area leads to
improved morale and better productivity.
Standardize
Now, the entire workplace is clean and organized. But, it is
important that this procedure of organizing the area is consistently followed,
and for this, it is important that the practice is standardized. So, you need
to formally arrange for procedures where instructions and agreements are put in
place. Also, responsibility must be assigned to specific people to see to it
that these procedures are developed and followed.
Sustain
Once the procedures are standardized, every individual will
be bound to follow them, which means that the process will be sustained. Such
maintenance will encourage new improvements and make sure that an orderly
workplace is sustained. If the procedures are not sustained, old habits of
disorganization will resurface, and the efforts of putting up an organized
workplace will be lost.
As you can see, these principles are very easy, but they
definitely require a commitment. So, you need to make sure that everyone within
your organization is encouraged to follow these procedures to commit to an
orderly workplace. Although the 5S started as a procedure for the manufacturing
industry, it has now spread to other working environments too. So, whatever
kind of workplace you are operating in, you must also have your employees
undergo a 5S Training Program India from
professionals like TQMI, who have been pioneers in quality management and
related principles since the past two decades.
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