How to keep the 5S method working?

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How to keep the 5S method working? Hardly... This is how our lecturers usually answer when they get such a question and have less than 8 hours to answer.

When determining the expectations of course participants at the beginning of our 5S training we hear: “we have something done, we have already tried to implement it, we have already been to some training, but how to keep it?”

The lecturer usually thinks that he already knows that it will not be easy with this group. He knows that his well-prepared presentation will be secondary. He knows that these people are not here because of the certificates, nor did they come to hear what 5 steps they had previously found on the Internet. I will say this for the lecturers, these trainings are best because they make sense.
 

First of all, it must be acknowledged that there is no precise guidance on how to keep the 5S method working. We will not reveal a revolutionary solution to you here either. In such a case that would be very easy. We will try to provide you with a few tips and tricks so that your employees do not consider 5S annoying and that they cooperate in its maintenance and functionality. You will not be successful without them.
 

Advice 1 - Discipline

Be disciplined and follow all 5 or 7 steps. And at all levels, because 5S concerns the entire company, especially top managers (in the main tasks).

We need to start gradually from the individuals and we need to realize what this is all about. There may be several reasons. Someone just wants to pass the audit, but in this article we focus more on those who are serious about 5S and do not need to have this tool in place for only a few audit days a year. The right philosophy is - to see 5S as a new way of working that helps increase productivity, reduce waste, effort and safety. There is no need to reorganize everything right away. You go slow and apply 5S on the go. To begin with, we recommend addressing the company's strengths, working on improvements that have already begun, and patiently analysing weaknesses in the workplace. The major problem for the sustainability of 5S is the insufficiently built control mechanism and the gradual threat of stereotype, the failure to pay attention to new improvements and dealing with the same issues. The role of workers in this case is not only to adhere to and control the principles of 5S, but to ensure that continuous improvement takes place in the workplace within the PDCA cycle.
 

Advice 2 - Top Management Support

It is naive to expect discipline in adhering to 5S without the VISIBLE support of top management. The top manager must be clear about this. They must know the benefits of 5S and be able to align them with the company's strategy.

The effort to introduce 5S is a signal to management to change the corporate culture. Are there any of your employees who refuse to join? Never mind. Try to find a reason to reject them and try to understand them. Show them the benefits and help with the implementation. 5S is still about change management. Leadership is more about service than commandment. And that is just a change of culture.

Every employee must see that the company has implemented a tool that is not just for top management, but for the company as a whole. How to do it? Put in the effort, visit every workplace and find out about employee involvement and understanding of goals. We leave the interval to you, but we recommend that it be at least monthly. Please do not teach, do not criticize. Motivate, lead and advise - that's the way to go. Explain to the workers that once they have their tools in place, they don't have to run the whole workshop, they don't have to bend over, they don't have to do unnecessary XY squats, and they don't have to worry about an accident at work when they do it one way or another. It is often forgotten that 5S is not only a way to save money, but also to protect the health of workers.

Furthermore, visualization is recommended (various posters, signs, slogans and company press), where the employee reads what effect he had on keeping 5S for the whole six months. Before and after photos are also very effective. But it must be in the eyes of every employee, it should not happen that the employee may also want to maintain and improve the workplace, but he does not know how to do it. None of the scholars have fallen, and do not teach workers how to follow only the 5S methodology, but how to implement the 5S philosophy. One 10-minute company-wide training is not enough.
 

Advice 3 - Measuring efficiency

Absolutely necessary. We need to measure everything to see if what we are doing is doing well and whether it matters. Internal audit is a suitable way to measure 5S performance. It is no less important to be able to appreciate the effort and reward the employee or team for complying with 5S. The results should be publicly available, we leave the prices to you, but we must keep in mind that they are not disgraceful and evoke a feeling of healthy competition in our employees. It's great when this happens at all levels, the top manager can win the car wash, for example by keeping 5S on the table.
 

Advice 4 - Start with yourself

Control of 5S steps in 3 languages is definitely not an indicator of a working 5S. Seiri, Shitsuke, Standardize or wait, what was it like? Seiso? ... Nor a visualization of 5S boards, billboards and banners. If top management cares about this, it can be applied, but by pointing out the results achieved and improving trends.

However, when I start with myself and every colleague, regardless of his position, whether he is superior or subordinate to me, and I want to be a role model, it is about something else. The best managed to implement 5S into everyday life. The more “normal” of them do not stick a quarter around the door opening at home with yellow-black tape, but have applied 5S to their daily lives. They applied it to their habits, such as cost. 5S is very closely connected with LEAN management. We know when everyone wants to be slim. Just as our employers want to be lean and produce as many products as possible at the lowest possible cost, so we want to be lean when we look in the mirror. Be tidy and waste less to be efficient. If this seems like a hair's breadth, we admit that it's not enough, but really, many have managed to save a lot of money thanks to these methods. There are at least 2 reasons to apply 5S to make you richer and more beautiful.
 

We will be happy to see you at our 5S training, where our lecturers will give you tips on how to convince employees that 5S is not a scarecrow and can make life easier. In the case of in-house tailor-made training, you have the opportunity to take a lecturer directly into your operation. An on-site 5S solution is always more effective than a “desk” solution.
 

We wish you good luck especially with the last (most difficult) "S" - sustain and therefore maintenance.

Training:

5S - Japanese concept of workplace improvement

5S - Practical workshop