Posted 7:32 AM by Alison
LIVE DISCUSSION. We are going to have a live discussion on this book and the topic of 5S on Friday, September 26th at 9:00AM PST / 12:00 EST. This will be a web seminar format, where we are on a conference call and can have the web up to ask questions or draw on the virtual white board. Please join us. Paul Gallager will be sending out the emails with the technical information. If you have any questions, don't hesitate to email me.

Posted 7:30 AM by Alison
In my own experience with employees, i've stuggles with the fact that if I don't name an effort, no one takes it seriously, but when I do people start thinking its management jargon and is fake. It seems like managers should push some effort with out naming it, let the mass name it as sort of a joke, then use that name to push it to completion. Would it work?

Posted 9:08 AM by Tracy
My original point was yes, we need to do 5S, we certainly need management at all levels to support it visually and experientially, but, we tend to give everything a name. When 5S becomes a way of life, we don't have to call it 5S anymore and it just becomes the way we do our business. Sure, as a child, mom reminded you to make your bed every morning, but eventually she stopped saying it because it was just what you did everyday. My experience in a Union shop is that anything with a name like a program is quickly and easily discounted by employees.

Posted 4:09 PM by Alison
Now I really didn't mean that the execs would put little marks on the counter for where the Sweet and Low would go! ha. The most important thing is for them to be VISIBLY supporting and practicing 5S. Walking around the shop floor is of course a way to be visible to the most people. Adding 5S to an execs mindset will give them more topics for them to talk to everyone about...

I was extremely frustrated at Qualcomm when I was implementing Lean, because Lean thinking didnt permeate (sp) past floor supervisors. So when ever a tough decision had to be made - it would also be for the old way and not the new lean way. argh I needed a champion higher up.

Posted 7:05 PM by Mark Graban
Personally, I think an executive's time could be better spent taking 20 minutes to walk a shop floor to focus attention on 5S, making sure audits are done, people are being trained, etc. on the shopfloor.

If you believe that the shopfloor is where value is created, then EVERYONE in the company should support the shopfloor (a lesson I learned from a NUMMI-trained plant manager). This includes top execs.

So, I would argue that the execs encouraging 5S "helps" the shopfloor, and therefore helps the company more, than "5S-ing" their executive cafeteria... unless nobody can find the Sweet N Low, that is. :-)

I think people doing 5S for the sake of 5S might set a good example, but might not be adding value to the company as much as encouraging it on the shopfloor.

Good discussion though Alison -- I see your point and respect your perspective on it...

Posted 6:42 PM by Alison
Good point Mark. How do we keep it from becoming regular house keeping? The thing I think about is that everyone from the top down needs to be doing all of the things described in 5S. The president should be seen Sorting-- and I don't think that message gets out there. A common problem with any change, but this one has even more of a bias towards " its for the little people" so to speak. I think because it can be so effective on the factory floor. But actually it helps everywhere.

Posted 9:39 PM by Mark Graban
I think 5S is more than just "cleaning up" as we would do with our bedroom or our desk. I saw a conference room last week that said "Please 5S the room when you're done" as if "5S" was a synonym for "pick up after your meeting." I think that's a common misperception that 5S means "pick up after yourself."

5S is a process that calls for things that aren't done every day:

The first step is "Sort" -- the equivalent of a spring cleaning, removing all of the un-needed things from the area in question.

Once you've "sorted" and defined places for everything, ala "a place for everything and everything in its place". Getting a team to agree on where things should go isn't always easy -- people like to do things their own way sometimes. But the reason we do this workplace organization is to reduce waste -- namely the waste involved in spending time looking for things, that or the waste involved in quality defects that occur because a gauge/tool is missing.

Only then you move on to the maintenance stages -- "things you should do everyday."

My other late night thought -- you don't do 5S for 5S's sake. It's to reduce waste and to improve people's job satisfaction by reducing frustration caused by things being lost and/or missing.

Cheers,

Mark

Posted 7:05 PM by Alison
Hi Tracy - Welcome to the blog. I'm intrigued by your statement - about doing the things we need to do every day. I think that most people are not taught to understand the benefits of cleaning up and organizing. It shouldn't be this way - we should have learned it in school or from our parents I suppose, but a program at least makes it sound official and not just nagging - like picking up your room when you were a kid. Do you think we could teach these things in a different way?