5S - Marie Condo'ing Your Workspace
2nd November 2020 by Clare Bourne
Ahhhh.....back in the day as a young whippersnapper working for a multinational pharmaceutical-grade manufacturing company, here I reminisce about my first ever "lean" experience - 5S.
I remember getting an invite to a 5S workshop - we had been developing a production line for a new product and I was employed as one of the machine operatives to work that line. I had no idea what 5S was, and was told the desire was for the line to run at it's most optimal - I guess that a bunch of engineers would come on to shopfloor and make a bunch of tweaks to the machines...
...it wasn't that at all. It was, what seemed like - good old fashioned housekeeping - great.
Actually what I subsequently learned through the process and over the coming years working on that line, was the invaluable nature of the 5S exercise, not only to the productivity of the line but also to the wellbeing of the employees who worked on it.
5S is a simple Japanese methodology of five words (and actions) that help you organise and standardise your work environment, they are:
Sort (Seiri) - Sorting through all items at the workstation and removing all unnecessary items completely or "red tagging" them for removal once their usefulness has been assessed.
Straighten (seiton) - Put the necessary items in the most optimal place for the workspace. I.e tools/items at arms reach, in a designated place
Shine (seiso) - Good old fashioned cleaning, keeping that workspace safe, presentable and easy to work in.
Standardise (seiketsu) - Standardise the process, document the procedure of keeping the workspace in order.
Sustain (shitsuke) - Making sure the 5S discipline is adhered to, and new members of the team are trained in the discipline.
The benefits of 5S are unbounded - you have your hardcore time-saving aspect - not hunting around for tools or stationery. Everything is in a place where it is expected to be. You also have a psychological benefit - a tidy workspace is a tidy mind reducing stress for the people that work there.
Furthermore, you can adapt the methodology to suit a number of applications, read about our digital 5S case study here.