This is an excerpt from the book "Five Minute Lean", by David McLachlan - a wonderful book that blends teaching of the tools, culture and philosophy of traditional Lean with a modern-day Lean parable. You can get the whole book on Amazon here and enjoy your own copy.
Organise Your Process with Five S
In Lean, Five S (also “5S”) is a method used to create an organised, clean and safe work area where things are visible, easy to reach and easy to find. This can also help in reducing waste, cycle times, overburden and stress and help implement your Pull system.
It doesn’t just have to be a physical space either – in the world of technology it can mean reducing different and unnecessary programs, sorting out unnecessary fields in your software or forms, or reducing the many folders or areas we keep work, results, forms or code.
The five S’ are:
1. Sort
Sort out and remove any unnecessary items.
2. Straighten
Organise the remaining essential items so team-mates can find materials quickly and reach them easily.
3. Shine
Clean the area and work tools.
4. Standardise
Make the standard process and the designated places for each item clearly visible for all to see.
5. Sustain
Put into place regular sorting and review of the necessary items and the implementation, for continuous improvement.
In other words, we have a place for our necessary things, and our necessary things in their place.
A nice example of 5S in a physical space is a “Shadow Board” – where shadows of the tools are put behind tools hanging on a wall so you know what goes where and can always see if something is missing. This idea can also relate to a Kanban trigger (4.1) to replenish an item. If the marked space is empty, this might trigger the upstream process to produce and place a new item there.
Item “footprints” are a similar idea – outlines and labels to show where items belong. All items should be close at hand, requiring minimal movement.
Figure 25: An example of a shadow board, where the shadow behind the tool makes it easy to see what goes where, and when a tool is missing. Great visual management that can be seen at a glance.
Implementing 5S
“Red tagging” items to begin our 5S is one of the easiest ways to start. We tag items with red tags or post it notes, and take them off if the item is used. This way it becomes clear if we have any items that we don’t need, and can “Sort” them out. Doing a tally of how often fields are used in a software program (if at all) is another good way to tell if the field is truly necessary or not.
After we sort, “Straightening” an area can mean clear labels on storage boxes that help keep things in their proper place, and having items or tools within arm’s reach so a team-mate doesn’t have to move far to get them. This helps improve speed and quality.
When we want to “Standardise”, it is also a great idea to show the standard process clearly on the wall of the area, making it visible for everyone to see (4.1). For example, you could place instructions for keeping an area clear or for storing things that come in, or the steps of the actual process performed in this area.
“Sustaining” a 5S effort is often done by making a roster clearly visible, with the date 5S was last performed and the date and name of the next person to perform it.
This is an excerpt from the book "Five Minute Lean", by David McLachlan - a wonderful book that blends teaching of the tools, culture and philosophy of traditional Lean with a modern-day Lean parable. You can get the whole book on Amazon here and enjoy your own copy.
Selected chapters from the story within Five minute Lean:
- Lean Parable – Where Lisa Makes a Change
- Lean Parable – Where Lisa Discovers a New Way
- Lean Parable – Where Lisa Performs a Balancing Act
- Lean Parable – Where Lisa Pulls the Trigger
- Lean Parable – Where Lisa Sets a New Standard
- Lean Parable – Where Lisa Becomes a Leader
Check out these selected chapters from the teachings within Five Minute Lean:
- Five Minute Lean – Create a New Standard Procedure and Checklist for Quality Control
- Five Minute Lean – Gather Direct Feedback and Indirect Feedback
- Five Minute Lean – Solve the Real Cause of the Problem
- Five Minute Lean – Collect and Measure Feedback With the Net Promoter Score
- Five Minute Lean – Use Kaizen and Kaizen Events to Help Stakeholder Buy-In
- Five Minute Lean – Put it Together With Design for Ease of Use
- Five Minute Lean – Eliminate the Eight Wastes to Improve Flow
- Five Minute Lean – Implement With Agile for Fast Iterations and Feedback
- Five Minute Lean – Get Your Map Started with a SIPOC
- Five Minute Lean Summary
- Five Minute Lean – Create a Future State Value Stream Map
- Five Minute Lean – Organise Your Process with Five S
- Five Minute Lean – Use Pareto to Find Where to Start
- Five Minute Lean – Make Feedback Meaningful with Kano Analysis
- Five Minute Lean – Heijunka: Level the Workload when Demand Fluctuates
- Five Minute Lean – Introduction
- Five Minute Lean – Value is Determined by the Customer
- Five Minute Lean – The Power of Incentives – What is Measured and Rewarded Improves
- Five Minute Lean – Create a Pull System with FIFO, Kanban Triggers and Visual Management
- Five Minute Lean – Map the Value Stream to Reveal Opportunities