5S-Work Flow Management in Enterprise Excellence Deployment

As Part of a Business Transformation and Enterprise Excellence strategy, how can the methodologies & tools of Operational Excellence be integrated into Business Strategy?

A foundation package was highlighted in a 16 MAY 18 BPM article¹around 6 key methodologies … Visual Management, Gemba Walks, 5s, Value Stream Maps, Standard Work, & Kaizen Process Improvement. Visual Management and Gemba Walks have been previously discussed^{1 & 2}. Today’s article will be around 5S Work Flow Management.

Tell me more about 5S Work Flow Management

As one of the Foundational methodologies, 5S is a key skillset for Associates within the organization to leverage. It’s all about Engage, Empower and Enrich our people and cultivating Pride in the workplace through improved work flow and “Making our jobs easier”.

Early Beginnings of 5S:

Origin is rooted in the works of two American pioneers

– Frederick W. Taylor, Scientific Management (circa 1915)

– Henry Ford, CANDO process (1920’s)

Ford CANDO concepts were studied by Japanese managers and adapted at Toyota
Popularized by Hiroyuki Hirano (1990) as 5S Methodology

“Scientific management is a theory of management that analyzes and synthesizes workflows. One of the earliest attempts to apply science to the engineering of processes and to management, it is sometimes known as Taylorism after its founder, Frederick Winslow Taylor. Taylor worked in manufacturing industries, especially steel, around 1910” ³

“The principles within 5S were being utilized early on by Henry Ford using CANDO (Cleaning up, Arranging, Neatness, Discipline and Ongoing improvement) in his manufacturing processes. In the 1950s, representatives from Toyota visited the Ford facilities to be trained in automotive mass production methods and later adapted the CANDO methods and applied them in their production facilities as 5S- Sort, Set, Shine, Standardize and Sustain. Throughout different companies, various words are used that have similar meanings. No matter what specific words are used to identify the steps in 5S, the purpose remains the same: create a clean, organized and efficient work environment.” ⁴

What are the basics behind 5S?

Starting with 5S as a Foundational Methodology, more specific techniques with OpEx can then come into play:

The five steps/pillars of 5S are:

Seiri / Sort: Separating of the essential from the nonessential items and work flow management procedures and documents.
Seiton / Straighten: Organizing only the essential’s so that everything has its place
Seiso / Shine: Cleaning/decluttering the work area and work flow process; resetting around the essential’s only.
Seiketsu / Standardize: Establishing a system to maintain the work area and work flow process to formalize 5S into “the way we work”.
Shitsuke / Sustain: Establishing the work area/work flow through organized, common sense usage & design that can be easily maintained and visually verified. Inspection and verification that the 5S flow is maintained. An added bonus is to integrate a safe work environment (Safety) into all we do (sometimes referred to as the “Sixth S”).

In a more visual view:

What/Where can the concepts of 5S be used?

There are numerous articles and books on 5S deployment, methodology, tools and techniques that can be located by simple web searches⁵. The intent of this article is to show the HOW and WHERE of 5S in the workplace with examples of 5S successful deployment, and how it improves the overall workplace for everyone.