Lit Lab: 5S for Operators

2003-08-17T07:32:00.000-07:00

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.

2003-08-17T07:30:00.000-07:00

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?

2003-08-07T09:08:00.000-07:00

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.

2003-08-04T16:09:00.000-07:00

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.

2003-07-29T19:05:00.000-07:00

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...

2003-07-27T18:42:00.000-07:00

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.

2003-07-20T21:39:00.000-07:00

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

2003-07-18T19:05:00.000-07:00

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?

2003-06-30T10:41:00.000-07:00

1. Tracy Kramer

2. Maintenance Planning Specialist, in an union powertrain automotive plant, automotive industry.

3. LFM Class of 2002.

4. I have worked as a process engineer in powertrain plant with manufacturing lines designed for the lean concept. I have worked as a production supervisor in a vehicle production plant that revamped the manufacturing lines to support the lean concept. And, currently in a work as a maintenance planning specialist in a powertrain plant that was founded upon the lean concepts.

5. I am interested in thoughts about benefits of 5S in the office and the workplace. And, I am also interested in thoughts about why we need to develop a process with a title - 5S- to simply do the things we NEED to do every day.

2003-06-30T10:02:00.000-07:00

Tom - How do you introduce the concepts of Lean when you are first at a new client?

2003-06-19T11:30:00.000-07:00

I agree that standardizing doesn't have to take the fun out of things. Everyone hates the idiocy of poor coordination.

Rafael - Have You seen resistance to 5S because operators think it is stiffling?

2003-06-16T15:51:00.000-07:00

I think the more valuable concept, related to 5S, is "standardized work". In any role where there is a repeatable process, such as maintenance, engineering, procurement, sales -- standardized work is absolutely applicable and helpful. I think of 5S more in terms of team-based organization -- make sure everyone can find shared tools, etc. An employee misplacing information that only they use -- I'd call that more a case of a person being disorganized than it being a "5S" situation. The abuses of 5S I've seen include telling employees that they can't have family pictures or personal items on their desks, because it's "non-standard". That's the ridiculous type of extreme that I'm talking about.

I had to explain "standardized work" to a sales group once when we had three meetings in a row where there had been time zone confusion, confusion over which conference call line to use, etc. Suffering through that "waste", everyone suddenly valued the concept of standardized work for scheduling a meeting. We all agreed that there's no creativity required for scheduling a meeting.

Food for thought....

2003-06-14T17:25:00.000-07:00

Interesting comment Mark - Engineering using 5S. I think a lot of them would resist because 5S is too simple and wouldn't allow them creativity. I know that I used some of the techniques on my Buyers and Planners when I was a Purchasing Manager and it helped them to be more organized and not loose important pieces of info.

2003-06-02T13:43:00.000-07:00

1. Mark Graban

2. Professional Services Senior Consultant, Factory Logic Inc. Founded in Austin, Texas in 1998, Factory Logic is the first company to team lean manufacturing specialists with experienced software professionals to develop a standard software product built around the principles of lean production. The result is Streamline - a comprehensive off the shelf Lean Factory Management System. Through the deployment of Streamline software and the guidance of experienced consultants, Factory Logic is helping a growing number of leading companies in the automotive, electronics, industrial equipment and aerospace industries move to the next level of performance on the Journey to Lean. In my role, I help implement Factory Logic's Streamline software and provide lean manufacturing and supply chain consulting services.

3. LFM Class of 1999.

4. In my first job out of college, I worked as an Industrial Engineer in a General Motors plant that was in early stages of a lean manufacturing transformation. I had shopfloor responsibility for a number of "lean fundamentals", including 5S and standardized work initatives. In my current role, I have worked with and visited factories in various stages of the lean journey, seeing products ranging from aerospace parts, $500,000 yachts, and fish sticks. I have learned that there are certain over-riding lean principles that are universal (value, flow, pull, perfection) and that certain tools are applicable in certain environments and at certain stages. 5S, alone, does not "equal lean" any more than "kanban equals lean." 5S is an important foundational step, but is only one piece of the lean puzzle.

5. I am hoping to learn more about the lean perspectives of different industries, union vs. non-union, etc. I am hoping to hear about how 5S has fit or not fit into the larger-scale lean initiatives. One topic I hope will be discussed is "Office 5S" -- does it create value to force your engineers into having clean desks? (I would argue that it does NOT add value the same way that 5S reduces waste on the shopfloor, where a common workspace and tool area might be shared by multiple shifts and multiple operators).

2003-05-30T12:49:00.000-07:00

Thanks for the invitation to join this group. Here is my introduction:

1. Name: Tom Knight

2. Current occupation: Founder & CEO, SAK Logistics

3. Connection to LFM/SDM network: LFM '92

4. Experience with Lean manufacturing: Lots. Alcoa (6 years), Siemens (2 years), SAK Logistics (4 years)

5. What you'd like to hear about from others: what works. what doesn't. how to know the difference. ;)

2003-05-30T11:57:00.000-07:00

First Quesiton for the group

How do you think this book will be received by associates on the shop floor in your company? If you have tried using this book and/or its content, what was their reaction?

2003-05-19T13:17:00.000-07:00

Hello Bloggers. I am Bryan Gilpin, LFM class of '95. As of now, I am in a career transition looking for the next interesting 'thing'. Marketing, product development and operations consulting work with some of Boston's finest young companies currently keeps me busy. Previously, I have been on the early management teams of two MIT-oriented start-ups working with MIT faculty and other MIT, LFM, and Sloan alumni. Just after LFM, I spent 3 years at Motorola improving its supply chain operations as both a corporate-wide consultant and as a program manager for a 'little' $100M division.

My main interest in this blog is actually to understand how we, as the LFM community, can use tools like Blogs to collaborate better. The LFM network has struggled to move beyond its MIT campus focus. The Lit Lab seems like a great way to get alumni involved outside of MIT. (Thanks to Allison and other who have put it together!) Plus, I am always interested in finding good books to read.

2003-05-19T10:00:00.000-07:00

Hello all!

I am Rafael O. de Jesus (LFM 2000), and the party responsible for the initial recommendation to The Literature Lab - 5S for Operators.

I currently work with the Corporate Research organization in ABB, a Swedish-Swiss company in the Automation & Power Technology industry. My responsibility within ABB Corporate Research is two-fold: 1) Lead a group of researchers to conduct "applied research" projects in ABB manufacturing facilities to increase the competitiveness of ABB's manufacturing, 2) Lead projects myself (including leading the relationship ABB-MIT LFM).

My recommendation of the book 5S For Operators is because I find this book as a common denominator for the activities that take care of the low-hanging fruit type improvement activities in operational improvement projects. It is my experience that in this initial wins (the low hanging fruits) lies a big opportunity for the success of projects. This applies even more when the audience is not sophisticated in the production management methods such as 'mom and pop job shops', or 'mom and pop job shops' suddenly owned by a large company that wants to bring change and efficiency.

The challenge for the suggestions in this book are in the quantification of the pay-back of what is done in a project based on the recommendations, especially if done for 'sophisticated' managerial audiences. For this reason I find it as a key basic part of a larger project that the pay back can be estimated with other major improvement activities. If other people have experiences in quantifying solely 5S activities (Sorting, Set-in-order, Sweeping, Standardizing, Sustainment), I'd be interested in finding out the justification/pay-back.

Cheers!
-Rafael

2003-05-16T11:55:00.000-07:00

Introduce yourself

As you log on to blogger and this site please introduce your self with the following info:

1. Name

2. Current occupation

3. Connection to LFM/SDM network

4. Experience with Lean manufacturing

5. What you'd like to hear about from others

Hi I'm Alison McCaffree LFM class of 99. I am currently an entreprenuer. I started ExacFit, a professional fitness services firm. We help people create healthy habits, and get the right clothing and athletic products for their workouts. Check out www.exacfit.com. Besides what I learned at LFM, I had 2 years of experience implementing lean principles in Qualcomm's satellite modem factory in San Diego. Unfortunately, the resistance to change was so high that we never saw any of the real benefits. I would love to hear some detailed success stories about inplementing lean. Do the ideas in this book help? Cheers - Alison

2003-05-09T16:53:00.001-07:00

Rafael de Jesus LFM ’00 inspired the selection of this book for our inaugural discussion. Rafael has volunteered to be the discussion leader. Here’s what he said about the book:

This is an operations organization manual (implementation/execution oriented book). It is great for those who, like me, are tasked with turning around upside-down operations. It helps in establishing some organization and getting results from low-hanging fruits in a step-by-step formal process. It is the ideal activity to begin with in general operations improvements projects under the names of lean manufacturing, six sigma or productivity improvements.
- Rafael

2003-05-09T16:53:00.000-07:00

The Productivity Development Team has a series of books on lean manufacturing implementation. Check out some of the others and let us know what you think. They include: Kanban for the Shop Floor, Quick Changeover for Operators, and Pull Production for the Shop Floor.

2003-05-09T16:52:00.000-07:00

This addition of The Lit Lab is for discussion about the book 5S for Operators, 5 Pillars for the Visual Workplace
by Hiroyuki Hirano and Productivity Development Team

2003-05-09T13:46:00.000-07:00

Welcome to The Literature Laboratory!