What is 5S?

Before we get into 3S, if you haven’t heard of 5S then I reckon you’re a fresh face engineer or one that’s been hiding away in the black hole of business, 5S itself has been around for over 60 years. But let’s recap what it’s about, which in a simple summary it’s about workplace organisation and minimising downtime due to not having the right tools/ equipment/ jigs/  information and parts close by.

The real objective of a 5S program should be:

• To reduce waste
  
  • Going back to the 7 Wastes again, 5S is one of the 5 Pillars of the Lean foundation and without this we can’t get the quick wins that are numerous within a business that doesn’t regularly practice Lean.
• To reduce variation
  • One of the 3 areas to improve Quality, 5S allows us to set out the workplace so that tools. Jigs. Fixtures and parts are found easily and conform to our SOP’s. This isn’t just about the variation in the process the built environment also plays a role, having a consisted setup allows us to build Muscle memory into our tasks so operators know when something has gone wrong.
• To improve productivity
  • When the old saying is true “Every part in its place” it does show itself here, with the Layout sorted and tooling kept up to date and in good working order with parts are in racks that can be seen and managed using the 80% daily ones around the station. Then productivity does increase (just do an Activity study before and after to see the gains).
• To promote stability
  • We’re clearing and organising the workplace to a standard that we want to build on and improve, for that we need a stable platform which 5S gives us.

Why only 3S?

This is what I use and how found it a benefit to start small and work up to 5S thanks to the Paul Akers videos, Doing Lean does not have to be difficult and can be done in small steps as long as you keep moving forward. Using Sort, Set in order and Sweep you can introduce the main 90% of what a 5S exercise will achieve, getting the first 3S done and in a consistent manner then allows you to show the operators how the Standardise and Sustain work (by simply telling them that maintaining the first 3S gets you the Sustain and creating a SOP for the activities gets the Standardise).

Breakdown of the 3S’s – What I have done and how you should carry out 5S

Here is a breakdown from my own experience of what I have done at Lewmar / Stannah and AI and from a website that covers this topic extensively (https://www.isixsigma.com), remember the first event is the big one, but it doesn’t stop there, regular checks and audits need to take place weekly/monthly and every 3-6 months to repeat the clear out of what’s crept back in and not identified.

Before starting 3S, the only equipment I would recommend you have with you are: Pen, Paper and plenty of Red floor tape.

Sort

• Remove items you don’t use daily or recognise (to be honest in most companies and especially smaller ones you will find items so old only the owner knows what it is!)
  • Set a criteria as to how you sort the items, I prefer to go with when the item gets used so Daily, Weekly, Monthly or Annually
  • Create an quarantine area and move everything into it (and I do mean everything that isn’t nailed down)
  • Identify all the items in the quarantine area, what is it, how often is it used (Daily, Weekly, Monthly and Annually).
  • Don’t forget items are not limited to tools etc, consider equipment/ documents/ desks/ benches/ file cabinets and WIP that’s been there for awhile
• Catalogue the items that remain in the quarantine area and hold on to them for 6 to 12 months if no-one can identify them or they are not used, make sure you have drawings and details for that object before discarding.
  • Cataloguing does require the use of Red Tags, either that or a sharpie (quicker and easier than buying or creating your own tags).
• Allow operators / supervisors to come and collect the items, giving you the reason for their use, this is when you can decide which category they fit into (Daily, Weekly or Monthly), then the item needs to be located in a place according to the use so line side / away from the line etc..

Set in order

• Create locations around the intended station that the tool will be used (if more are needed then you need to buy/make more, there’s little to no sharing here)
• Create locations in the department for the items that aren’t used Daily, spacing them out so that the Annually used one (should you choose to keep them) are furthest away.
  • I go with – Daily items are located on the cell/station in the process, Weekly and Monthly can go in a nearby rack / locked cupboard and Yearly items I would say need to be removed.
• When creating storage areas on the line like shadowboards, be mindful of the flow of products and what order the tooling will be needed, sort them in that order.
• As with stocked parts being used on a regular basis, keep tooling / information and fixtures within 30 secs of the station that requires it.

Sweep/Shine

• I firmly believe that cleaning is a form on detailed inspection, so that when we clean tools/boards/benches and equipment we get up close to see if anything is going wrong. I use this when doing TPM, think about your car, if like me you check it regularly (and that’s twice a month) then I get to know what defects there are and ahead of time when they could be problematic. So knowing about them now I can do something.
• Set aside 10 – 15 mins at the end of the shifts to dedicate the time for cleaning and inspecting the workplace including the items used.
• Clean the areas (including desks as well as machines and benches)
• Check the area you work in to make sure everything is there and working including SOPs

How do they benefit / complement other Lean tools

Let’s list out some of those benefits for 3S

• Able to find anything within the process in 30 seconds or less
  • Allows operators to find things visually, without the need for a guide or to read anything
• Items are located at the process they are needed and not in someone’s toolbox (been there so many times)
• An organised clean workspace is better for the worker
  • Reduces accidents
  • Helps new workers to see and understand the process without clutter (also, customers and visitors will also have this benefit)
• Maximises on available floorspace, so new production lines can be built.
• Allows us to standardise the format of the working areas (benches/desks/floor/stores) to aid cross trained staff to switch between tasks.
• Allows us to used TPM, so when an item is damaged it can be replace or repaired straight away
• SOP’s are checked along with other documents to see if they are still relevant and if not the operators can make suggestions to amend or the decision is taken to remove
• It becomes a cycle of looking for the 7 wastes of a regular basis (how many times have I said regular?)
• Helps to remove resource constraints – people/items and space, thinking about sorting and it’s identified that there’s only one measuring tool shared between several operations, this constraint is then highlighted and with this information the justification can be made to buy more (again see the Activity study and Time studies to support this).

When to use 3S and how we get the other 2 into the mix

This is an interesting topic (well at least it is for me anyhow), there are two schools of thought regarding when to implement 5S and they are:

1. At the start of a lean initiative as a quick win / organise and remove the majority of the waste around the area before getting stuck into the ‘real’ lean implementation, or just used as a foundation.
2. At the end of the lean implementation, since 5S is a big group effort it’s better to focus on stations/machines first and teach others on a one to one basis, that way when we come to the 5S everyone will have the knowledge / understanding and acceptance to proceed.

I’ve done the latter and gone last, this has benefitted how I teach lean to others, as I prefer to work through the stations with the individuals on a one to one basis (teaching them about lean and going through the TIM WOODS steps with them), leaving the 5S for a Continuous improvement hour when I get the team together to conduct for an actionable improvement and since 5S is straight forward it gets positive feedback from those involved with the added benefit of other managers / directors and visitors commenting on the area as well.

To achieve the last two (Standardise and Sustain) it’s a simple case that I focus on achieving the first 3 on a regular occurrence, again have the team just do the 3S’s while you can standardise by writing down how to conduct them and create a rotating schedule of when and who conducts the activities. There’s not much more to add, I’ve used some clever excel spreadsheets at Stannah where the manager highlights everyone and what was good / bad with points to pick up on, but to take Paul Aker’s view to make Lean as simple as possible these last two are really a management tool, so leave the workers to clean / tidy / inspect and identify while you help them focus on the steps and record what they have found for the next session.

Conclusion on implementing 3S

After reading Atomic habits by James Clear, there’s a lot in his book that can be applied to 5S (funny enough!)

• How to create a good habit
  • The 1st law (Cue): Make it obvious.
  • The 2nd law (Craving): Make it attractive.
  • The 3rd law (Response): Make it easy.
  • The 4th law (Reward): Make it satisfying.
• These laws can be inverted to learn how to break a bad habit:
  • How to break a bad habit
  • Inversion of the 1st law (Cue): Make it invisible.
  • Inversion of the 2nd law (Craving): Make it unattractive.
  • Inversion of the 3rd law (Response): Make it difficult.
  • Inversion of the 4th law (Reward): Make it unsatisfying.
• Whenever you want to change your behaviour, simply ask yourself:
  • How can I make it obvious?
  • How can I make it attractive?
  • How can I make it easy?
  • How can I make it satisfying?

Try asking yourself these questions and consider that 5S is about creating good habits while breaking the bad ones at the same time.

It might not seem intuitive, but 5S is mostly left until the end of a Lean implementation drive, after the processes have already been assessed for Non-value added activities.

Taking a page from the book The visual factory by Michel Grief, doing 5S is also about affecting the working environment that the operators are in every day, they should have a say in its organisation and they should take pride including the responsibility in keeping it in a workable condition that helps everyone out.

When getting onto the other 2S’s, it’s best to make sure that everyone in the department is trained to audit the process, so that a rota can be established, this promotes leadership and responsibility skills for everyone.

By taking a strategic approach and following these steps of 3S – sort, set in order, and shine – you can create a clean and productive workplace. If you’re ready to start implementing 5S in your organization, get in touch with a certified Lean Six Sigma professional to ensure the process is done correctly and efficiently.

References

• The Lean Toolbox – Bicheno & Holweg
• The Lean six sigma pocket toolbox – George, Rowlands, Price & Maxey
• Lean six sigma 36 hour course – Shaffie and Shahbazi
• Lean Thinking – Womack and Jones
• Lean Solutions – Womack and Jones
• The Toyota Way fieldbook – Liker and Meir
• Lean lexicon – Lean Enterprise Institute
• The visual factory – Michel Grief
• Lean Smarts
• ISIXSIGMA.COM
• Atomic habits

HOW TO ROLL OUT 3S

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