The document discusses the 5S methodology, which consists of 5 steps - Sort, Straighten, Shine, Standardize, and Sustain. The 5S approach originated in Japan as a way to organize and clean the workplace. It aims to establish good housekeeping practices through eliminating waste, improving flow, and increasing safety, quality and efficiency. Implementing 5S helps create a more productive work environment by removing unnecessary items, properly storing needed items, cleaning the workplace daily, establishing standards, and sustaining practices through self-discipline.

1. The 5S: The Five
Steps of Workplace
Organization
BY: MARC NIXON T. PELAYO
CHARLENE B. PACPACO
FRANCES P. ANTIPORDA

2. Introducing 5S
 Kaizen values the process as much as the result. In order to
get people involved in continuing their kaizen efforts,
management must carefully plan, organize, and execute the
project. Managers often wish to see the result too soon and
skip a vital process. 5S is an ongoing part of daily life. Any
kaizen project therefore needs to include follow-up steps.
 Because kaizen addresses people’s resistance to change, the
first step is to prepare employees mentally to accept 5S before
the campaign gets started. As a preliminary to the 5S effort,
time should be allocated to discuss the philosophy behind
and the benefits of 5S.

3. Discovery of 5S
 -THIRTY YEARS AGO, RESEARCHERS STARTED STUDYING THE SECRET OF
SUCCESS OF JAPANESE MANUFACTURING COMPANIES.
 -IT WAS HIROYUKI HIRANO WHO DEVELOPED 5S WITHIN HIS OVERALL
APPROACH TO PRODUCTION SYSTEMS.
 -5S TURNED OUT TO BE THE MOST IMPRESSIVE ‘SECRET’. MANY WESTERN
MANAGERS COMING ACROSS THE APPROACH FOR THE FIRST TIME
FOUND THE EXPERIENCE TO BE ENLIGHTENING.
 -HIRANO PROVIDED A STRUCTURE FOR IMPROVEMENT PROGRAMS. HE
POINTED OUT A SERIES OF IDENTIFIABLE STEPS, EACH BUILDING ON ITS
PREDECESSOR.

4. Essentials of 5S
 PERSONAL PROCESS
 INVOLVES CHANGE IN BEHAVIOR
 PROMOTES SENSE OF PRIDE
 ENCOURAGES OWNERSHIP OF RESPONSIBILITIES
 BOOSTS MORALE OF THE EMPLOYEE
 TOOL FOR MOTIVATING PEOPLE
 MEANS TO INFLUENCE OTHERS
 IT IS AN EMOTIONAL PROCESS

5. Good Housekeeping in Five Steps
 1. Seiri: Distinguish between necessary and unnecessary items
in the gemba, and discard the latter.
 2. Seiton: Arrange all items remaining after seiri in an orderly
manner.
 3. Seiso: Keep machines and working environments clean.
 4. Seiketsu: Extend the concept of cleanliness to oneself, and
continuously practice the preceding three steps.
 5. Shitsuke: Build self- discipline and make a habit of engaging
in 5S by establishing standards.

6. A 5S Campaign
 1. Sort: Separate out all that is unnecessary, and eliminate it.
 2. Straighten: Put essential things in order so that they can be
accessed easily.
 3. Scrub: Clean everything—tools and workplaces—removing
stains, spots, and debris and eradicating sources of dirt.
 4. Systematize: Make cleaning and checking routine.
 5. Standardize: Standardize the preceding four steps to make
the process one that never ends and can be improved on.

7. A Five Cs Campaign
 1. Clear out: Determine what is necessary and unnecessary,
and dispose of the latter.
 2. Configure: Provide a convenient, safe, and orderly place for
everything, and keep it there.
 3. Clean and check: Monitor and restore the condition of
working areas during cleaning.
 4. Conform: Set the standard, train and maintain.
 5. Custom and practice: Develop the habit of routine
maintenance, and strive for further improvement.

8. Seiri (Sort)
 The first step of housekeeping, seiri, entails classifying items in
the gemba into two categories—necessary and
unnecessary—and discarding or removing the latter from the
gemba.
 All sorts of objects can be found in the gemba. A close look
reveals that only a small number of them are needed in daily
work; many others either will never be used or will be needed
only in the distant future.
 An easy rule of thumb is to remove anything that will not
be used within the next 30 days.

9. Seiri (Sort)
 Seiri often begins with a red tag campaign. Select one area
of the gemba as the site for seiri. Members of the designated
5S team go to the gemba with handfuls of red tags and place
them on items they believe are unnecessary. The larger the
red tags and the greater their number, the better. When it is
unclear whether or not a particular item is needed, a red
tag should be placed on it.

10. Seiri (Sort)
 Sometimes gemba employees may find red tags placed on items
they actually need. In order to keep such items, employees must
demonstrate the necessity of doing so. Otherwise, everything with a
red tag on it is removed from the gemba. Things that have no
reason to stay in the gemba, no apparent future usage and no
intrinsic value, are thrown away. Things that will not be needed
within the next 30 days but may be needed at some point in the
future are moved to their rightful places (such as the warehouse in
the case of supplies). Work-in-process that exceeds the needs of the
gemba should be sent either to the warehouse or back to the
process responsible for producing the surplus.

11. Seiri (Sort)
 At the end of the red tag campaign, all managers should get
together and have a good look at the heap of supplies, work-
in-process, and other gembutsu and start making kaizen to
correct the system that made this waste possible.
 Eliminating unnecessary items via the red tag campaign also
frees up space, enhancing flexibility in the use of the work
area, because once unnecessary items have been discarded,
only what is needed remains. At this stage, the maximum
number of items to be left in the gemba must be determined.

12. Seiri (Sort)
 Seiri can be applied to individuals working in offices as well.
For example, a typical desk has two or more drawers. Items
are often placed in these drawers indiscriminately; side by side
in a single drawer one may find not only pencils, ballpoint
pens, erasers, writing pads, rubber bands, business cards, and
scissors but also toothbrushes, candy, perfume, aspirin, coins,
matches, cigars, costume jewelry, Band- Aids, and other
objects. These items first must be classified by use. In a desk
with only two drawers, office supplies and personal items each
should occupy one drawer.

13. Seiri (Sort)
 Next, the maximum number of each item is determined. For
instance, let’s say we decide to place in the drawers only two
pencils, one ballpoint pen, one eraser, one pad of paper, and
so on. Any items beyond the maximum number are
discarded—that is, removed from the drawer and taken to the
office supply storage area in the corner of the room.
Sometimes this storage area is called a recycling bank. When
supplies in the drawers are exhausted, the employee goes to
the recycling bank to replenish them. In turn, the employee in
charge of the bank watches the inventory and, when it drops
to the designated minimum, orders more supplies.

14. Seiri (Sort)
 By paring to a minimum the supplies in our office drawers, we
eliminate the need to shuffle through the collection of pencils,
papers, and cosmetics to reach a desired item. This process
develops self-discipline as well as improving recordkeeping
and enhancing employees’ ability to work effectively.

15. Seiton (Straighten)
 Once seiri has been carried out, all unnecessary items have
been removed from gemba, leaving only the minimum
number needed. But these needed items, such as tools, can be
of no use if they are stored too far from the workstation or in
a place where they cannot be found. This brings us to the next
stage of 5S, seiton.

16. Seiton (Straighten)
 Seiton means classifying items by use and arranging them
accordingly to minimize search time and effort. To do this,
each item must have a designated name, address, and volume.
Not only the location but also the maximum number of items
allowed in the gemba must be specified.

17. Seiton (Straighten)
 The items left in the gemba should be placed in the designated area. In
other words, each item should have its own address, and conversely, each
space in the gemba also should have its designated address. Each wall
should be numbered, using designations such as wall A1 and wall B2 . The
location of such items as supplies, work-in-process, fire hydrants, tools,
jigs, molds, and carts should be designated either by its address or by
special markings. Markings on the floor or workstations indicate the
proper locations of work-in-process, tools, and so on. Painting a rectangle
on the floor to delineate the area for boxes containing work- in-process,
for example, creates a space sufficient to store the maximum volume of
items. At the same time, any deviation from the designated number of
boxes shows up instantly. Tools should be placed well within reach and be
easy to pick up and put down. Their silhouettes might be painted on the
surface where they are supposed to be stored. This makes it easy to tell
when they are in use.

18. Seiton (Straighten)
 The hallway also should be marked clearly with paint. Just as
other spaces are designated for supplies and work- in-
process, the hallway is meant for transit: Nothing should be
left there. The hallway should be completely clear so that any
object left there will stand out, allowing supervisors to notice
the abnormality instantly and take remedial action.

19. Seiso (Scrub)
 Seiso means cleaning the working environment, including
machines and tools, as well as the floors, walls, and other
areas of the workplace. There is also an axiom that goes,
“Seiso is checking.” An operator cleaning a machine can find
many malfunctions. When the machine is covered with oil,
soot, and dust, it is difficult to identify any problems that may
be developing. While cleaning the machine, however, one can
easily spot oil leakage, a crack developing on the cover, or
loose nuts and bolts. Once these problems are recognized,
they are easily fixed.

20. Seiso (Scrub)
 It is said that most machine breakdowns begin with vibration
(owing to loose nuts and bolts), with the introduction of
foreign particles such as dust (owing to a crack on the cover,
for instance), or with inadequate oiling and greasing. For this
reason, seiso is a great learning experience for operators
because they can make many useful discoveries while
cleaning machines.

21. Seiketsu (Systematize)
 Seiketsu means keeping one’s person clean by such means as
wearing proper working clothes, safety glasses, gloves, and
shoes, as well as maintaining a clean, healthy working
environment. Another interpretation of seiketsu is continuing
to work on seiri, seiton, and seiso continually and every day.

22. Seiketsu (Systematize)
 For instance, it is easy to go through the process of seiri once and
make some improvements, but without an effort to continue such
activities, the situation soon will be back to where it started. To do
kaizen just once in the gemba is easy. To keep doing kaizen
continuously, day in, day out, is an entirely different matter.
Management must deploy systems and procedures that ensure the
continuity of seiri, seiton, and seiso. Management’s commitment to,
support of, and involvement in 5S becomes essential. Managers
must determine, for example, how often seiri, seiton, and seiso
should take place and who should be involved. This should become
part of the annual planning schedule.

23. Shitsuke (Standardize)
 Shitsuke means self -discipline. People who practice seiri,
seiton, seiso, and seiketsu continuously—people who have
acquired the habit of making these activities part of their daily
work—acquire self-discipline.

24. Shitsuke (Standardize)
 5S may be called a philosophy, a way of life in our daily work. The
essence of 5S is to follow what has been agreed on. It begins with
discarding what we don’t need in the gemba(seiri) and then
arranging all the necessary items in the gemba in an orderly
manner (seiton). Then a clean environment must be sustained so
that we can readily identify abnormalities (seiso), and these three
steps must be maintained on a continuous basis (shitsuke).
Employees must follow established and agreed- on rules at each
step, and by the time they arrive at shitsuke, they will have the
discipline to follow such rules in their daily work. This is why we
call the last step of 5S self discipline.

25. Shitsuke (Standardize)
 By this final stage, management should have established
standards for each step of 5S and made certain that the
gemba is following those standards. The standards should
include ways to evaluate progress at each of the five steps.
 In order to review progress, evaluation must be conducted
regularly by plant managers and gemba managers. Only after
work on the first step has been approved can workers move
on to the next step. This process lends a sense of
accomplishment.

26. Shitsuke (Standardize)
 After seiso has been completed, management’s attention
should focus on a new horizon—namely, maintaining and
ensuring momentum and enthusiasm. After working hard at
seiri, seiton, and seiso and having seen improvements in the
gemba, employees begin to think, “We’ve made it!” and relax
and take it easy for a while (or even worse, cease their efforts
altogethe r). Strong forces at work in the gembatry to push
conditions back to their previous state, making it imperative
for management to build a system to ensure the continuity of
5S activities.

27. Benefits of 5S
 Creating clean, sanitary, pleasant, and safe working environments
 Revitalizing the gemba and greatly improving employee morale and
motivation
 Eliminating various kinds of muda by minimizing the need to search
for tools, making operators’ jobs easier, reducing physically
strenuous work, and freeing up space.
 Helping employees to acquire self -discipline.Self -disciplined
employees are always engaged in 5S, take positive interest in
kaizen, and can be trusted to adhere to standards.

28. Benefits of 5S
 Highlighting the many kinds of muda (waste) in the gemba.
Recognizing problems is the first step in eliminating waste.
 Eliminating muda in the gemba enhances the 5S process.
 Pinpointing abnormalities, such as rejects and inventory
surplus.
 Reducing wasteful motion, such as walking and needlessly
strenuous work.

29. Benefits of 5S
 Allowing problems associated with shortage of materials, line
imbalances, machine breakdowns, and delivery delays to be
identified visually and thence to be solved.
 Resolving outstanding logistical problems in the gemba in a
simple manner.
 Making quality problems visible.
 Improving work efficiency and reducing costs of operation.

30. Benefits of 5S
 Cutting down on industrial accidents by eliminating oily and
slippery floors, dirty environments, rough clothing, and unsafe
operations. Seiso in particular increases machine reliability,
thus freeing maintenance engineers’ time for working on
machines that are prone to sudden breakdown. As a result,
engineers can concentrate on more upstream issues, such as
preventive maintenance, predictive maintenance, and the
creation of maintenance-free equipment in cooperation with
design departments.

31. A company that cannot successfully implement the 5S’s cannot
expect to effectively integrate JIT, re-engineering, or any other
large-scale change. Good workplaces develop beginning with
the 5S’s. Bad workplaces fall apart beginning with the 5S’s.