Top 10 Benefits of 5S Implementation
Do you know that 5S Implementation is one of the easiest ways to kickstart Lean in your company? Practicing 5S requires total employee participation and gives a lot of benefits. In this article I'm going to list down the top 10 benefits of implementing 5S in your organization.
A little introduction to 5S before we get into its benefits. It is a 5 Step process that helps in creating a safe and organised workplace. All the employees in the unit gets involved and it creates a Positive Culture in the company.
The 5 Steps are:
Sort: Segregating Necessary and Unnecessary items from the workplace. Removing unnecessary items. Red Tagging the doubtful items.
Set In Order: Arranging materials according to the usage. A place for everything and Everything in its place.
Shine: Cleaning and Inspection - Maintaining the workplace without dust, Cleaning the machines daily, fixing leakages and abnormalities
Standardize: Make the above 3 points easier to follow by all the employees in the company, Creating Visual Indicators, SOPs, Shadow Boards, etc.
Sustain: Follow 5S daily. Regular Audits, Internal Competitions and Rewards and Recognitions for people would help in sustaining the 5S
5S is very simple to understand, but very difficult to Implement. It requires involvement from everyone in the unit - from the Top management to the bottom most layer.
The Top 10 Benefits of Implementing 5S are:
Clean and Pleasant Environment: 5S creates an organised and clean environment. Employees love to work in a clean and pleasant workplace.
Self Discipline: Employees acquire self-discipline, they need to maintain the standards (put the tools pack in their positions, daily cleaning, Regular Audits, etc).
Identify and Eliminate Wastes: 5S would bring a lot of wastes to the surface (Overproduction, excess motion, etc.) Employees can start reducing the wastes and improve the Productivity
Create More Space: removal of unwanted items and organising the necessary materials release space. We have found 5S releasing around 10% to 20% more floor space in most of our engagements.
Identify Abnormalities: Oil Leaks, Air Leakages and Vibration of machines can be identified easily and fixed immediately.
Identify issues in the flow of the materials: Shortage of Parts, Line Imbalances, excess inventory etc. would come to light once we implement 5S.
Improvement in Safety: 5S helps in crating a safe workplace by reducing accidents caused by Slippery floors, eliminating oil leaks and creating visual indicators.
Improves Machine Uptime: By following daily cleaning and fixing the abnormalities, the breakdowns of the machines would significantly reduce. From our experience we have found more than 60% reduction in breakdowns after 5S implementation.
Improves Quality: By making the workplace visible and clean, the overall quality improves as defects cannot be hidden. Defects starts reducing and improvement in First Time Acceptance (FTA) would improve.
Improvement in Employee Morale and Positive Attitude: 5S creates a positive attitude and starts a culture change in the company. Employees starts owning the workplace and their machines and they have a sense of belongingness to the company.
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We help in implementing Lean Mfg principles (including 5S) in manufacturing companies. Please contact us if you are looking to implement 5S in your organization. Visit our website for our experience in implementing Lean.
Cheers,
Ananth
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