Do Not Implement a 5S Program

Is your 5S program not giving you the results that you expected? 5S needs to be implemented as part of a value stream plan, and not as a program.

Introduction

"The total organizational energy available at any time is limited. If you focus this energy where it is not needed, you lose the opportunity to utilize it in more critical areas." - Rajan Suri, Professor of Industrial Engineering, University of Wisconsin-Madison.

We were recently out training at a large company, and we were asked about a 5S programs by an associate that was just asked to lead their program. She asked us what were some of the better books out there that would help her to learn more so that she could implement a 5S program in her company.

The text below is essentially our reply. We get this question often, so we decided to post it.

The Message

Now for the bad news. There is no really good literature on 5S. The reason that I say this is that most authors treat 5S as a program that is separate from the value stream plan. The 5S program gets intermingled with all of the other programs that the company is currently implementing. This is not a good way to go because:

As a program, 5S enthusiasm peters out after awhile and it disappears. Not too many have been able to truly 'sustain' it. Making it a plant-wide program draws huge resources that could have been used to improve the value streams according to the value stream plan. You could be conducting 5S routines on areas that will radically change or disappear according to the value stream plan. (Wasted effort). Many 5S programs don't consider ergonomic analysis which is an integral part of having things in the right place. Massive training is conducted, but the skills not immediately used by everyone, causing waste and low knowledge retention.

Let's go back to why 5S was created:

Primarily, 5S attacks the wastes of motion, and transportation. It does this by removing items that are in the way, and placing needed items in the right place to reduce motion and transport. It helps remove variability (allowing production to takt) by standardizing where things can be found, and making everything visual. As a by-product it improves working conditions by making things cleaner, brighter, and safer. Having said all this, the most effective way to implement 5S for your money is to implement it as value stream improvements are being made. Not try to do it as a program. Each time a cell is created, or a pull system implemented, the team should use 5S principles to eliminate more waste. They should combine this with some sound ergonomic analysis too. This way you eat the elephant a bite at a time, rather than trying to swallow it at once.

In my opinion then for what it is worth, the role of a 5S Program Leader becomes one of being the expert advisor to the implementation teams and the value stream managers, rather than trying to manage a large 5S program. As the teams do a kaizen, you are in there teaching them about 5S in a just-in-time manner. They then immediately practice what you taught, and thereby retain it.

Case Study

An executive at a $6B company recently told me that their 5S program did not yield the results that they had expected. Instead of implementing it as part of a value stream plan, 5S was implemented as a program. Things got brighter and cleaner - and the employees were happy with the better environment - but there was little actual return on the investment of time and money on the bottom line. In hindsight, the executive wished that 5S could be implemented as part of the value stream plans.