Why?
- 5s was seen at another organisation and “copied” the tool was copied and not the system of improvement.
- 5s was implemented via step 1 clean up and became “cleaning” at step 3, at which point people lost interest.
- 5s was introduced to improve the business in isolation- it had no “purpose”.
- External bodies “trained” the front line staff in 5s, handed out certificates, claimed benefits and walked away.
- 5s improved what it had to but the was no “next steps” teams did not know how to build on gains made.
How do you breathe life into 5s?
- Implement systems of improvement and use 5s to stabilise your process
- 5s is a great problem solving tool, set its goals, develop its improvement systems and use steps 1, 2 and 3 to develop the process.
- Give 5s is a purpose, continually challenge targets, recalibrate improvements, and involve people.
- Make 5s part of work, don’t wait for Friday to tidy up or the third Friday in every month to problem solve- do it all day every day.
- Step 5 of 5s is continuous improvement, take the team’s further, use as your building blocks for complex activities such as TPM and Six Sigma.