5S

5s is a management consulting technique that is employed to efficiently and effectively manage a workplace, be it manufacturing or services, by identifying and storing all the items required, the exact place and the colour code of each item and making efforts to sustain this process with continuous improvement. 5s as the name suggests, uses 5 Japanese letters, all starting with S: Seiri, seiton, seiso, seiketsu and shitsuke which would simply mean Sort,  Set in order, Shine, Standardize and Sustain respectively.    

5s was generally considered a housekeeping methodology but lately, it is being used to improve processes, systems and personnel.

• Seiri-Sort:  A shop floor consists of various items, some are regularly used while others are hardly used by anybody, and some items are in good working condition while others were used a lifetime ago. Seiri recommends a formal arrangement of all these items in a structured manner.
• Seiton –Set in Order:  All the items required for a job are placed in their designated places. This is done keeping in mind the flow of work and movement of employees so that an ideal storing space is created and efficiency and safety are promoted in the organization.
• Seiso-Shine: The workplace is not required to be clear only but also to be having a high degree of cleanliness to improve the appearance of the work area. The efforts are focused on preventive housekeeping rather than waiting for it to become dirty.
• Seiketsu – Standardize: This point envisages that once a required level of cleanliness is achieved, the managers are required to develop procedures so that the recent learning of 5S is standardized and internalized for everyone to follow.
• Shitsuke – Sustain:  The process managers are expected to always sustain the initial gains from the 5S implementation. They have to ensure that the workplace does not become cluttered once again by maintaining focus on the new way of performing different business processes.

• Increase in Productivity
• Improvement of Product Quality
• Increased Safety
• High Employee Morale
• Reduced Search time
• Improved Processes
• Improved efficiency through waste reduction
• Standardization of processes
• Space for expansion with re-layout
• Conformance to customer standards
• Enhancement of workforce skills